Brand expects its new supermini to contribute 50 per cent of its UK sales in the year ahead

Alfa Romeo is pinning hopes on the Mito supermini to give its fortunes a much needed shot in the arm following the sudden departure of chief executive Luca de Meo this month coupled with a European sales slump triggered by the credit crunch.

Fiat Group stalwart Sergio Cravero was rapidly installed to replace de Meo and UK managing director Christopher Nicholl insisted the brand would not be distracted from its task of steering a steady course through the economic storm. “Our job in the market doesn’t change,” he said.

Alfa Romeo’s new car sales in the UK dropped 19 per cent in 2008 to under 6,000 units as business slumped in the last quarter. “Until September we were on track,” Nicholl said. He claimed the turning point coincided with the collapse of the Lehman Brothers investment bank, which drained financial confidence. From that point “targets changed”. Nicholl said he would not predict how the market would pan out in 2009 but said: “Times will be tougher, on a scale we’ve not seen before.”

Article from Talking Motors Feb 2009