Alfa Romeo Mito GTA (2009): first official picture

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 23 February 2009 09:19 Alfa Romeo has managed to squeeze a remarkable 240bhp from 1742cc in its new Mito GTA concept car. It's the hot hatch version of the Mito supermini and will form the centrepiece of the Alfa stand at next week's 2009 Geneva motor show.This is the first GTA since the musclebound 147. GTA stands for gran turismo alleggerito  – and this pocket rocket version of the Mito has indeed been lightened and toughened up to give it some serious performance.

Ford Mustang: the ultimate birthday present?

What did you get for Christmas? A pair of socks? Some aftershave?

Honda cutting production in Swindon again – 500 jobs at risk

Honda is cutting another 500 jobs in Swindon It’s only a year since Honda announced 800 job cuts at Swindon (which eventually was 550) and now they’re about to cut a further 500 as weak demand – particularly in Europe – sees the Swindon plant producing just half the cars it could. The plan is to cut shifts from 3 to 2 a day, which will result in the loss of 340 permanent jobs and 160 temporary ones, and production will be centred on just one production line to increase efficiency and flexibility. The Swindon Plant – which builds the Civic, Civic Tourer, CR-V and Jazz (and the Civic Type-R from next year) – has been hard hit by the slump in European sales in the last five years and, despite still strong UK sales, production levels of 120,000 cars a year – just half of the Swindon capacity – are not enough to sustain the current staffing levels.