MiTo's big bro - BBC Top Gear

Brave move, lining up your new baby hatchback alongside your range-topping supercar: a supercar that just happens to be one of the most beautiful of recent years.

But brave Alfa is, and has sent the stunning 8C Competizione off to the studio with its little brother, the MiTo (which mysteriously - though thankfully - seems to have lost its mid-word full stop since

The idea, of course, is to highlight the family resemblance, to show off the MiTo as a mini-8C. The risk, however, is that the comparison highlights just how, well, average a £20,000 hatchback looks alongside a £100,000-plus supercar.

But, to hand it to Alfa, the MiTo doesn't look half-bad in such exalted company. Not quite as good as the 8C, naturally, but you can see the Alfa DNA in the strong shoulder crease, single-frame side window and round, stubby taillights.

Though Alfa is still staying quiet on the technical details of the MiTo, it has released a couple more pictures of the interior, which is swathed in carbon fibre (effect?) trim and features Alfa's favourite aluminium-framed binnacles. Don't expect the lower-spec versions to be quite so lavish.

And anyhow, we'd still take the 8C instead. Ta.