>

Alfa Romeo Milano – spy photo

The new Alfa Romeo Milano - snapped on a mobile 'phone and posted on Facebook

The new Alfa Romeo Milano - snapped on a mobile 'phone and posted on FacebookWe don’t make a habit of running every spy shot that crosses our desks, as frankly half of them don’t tell you a thing. But now and again – just like the photo of the new Grand Bentley

the other day – you really do get to see what the car is like ahead of the crowd.

And that’s the case with this picture of the new Alfa Romeo Milano, which has surfaced on the Interweb (on Facebook – I wonder if it was taken by the wife of the head of MI6?!) and lets you see just what the new Alfa Romeo Milano will look like.

Obviously taken on a ‘phone, the quality isn’t great, but there’s more than enough detail to see what the car will offer. Taking design cues from the Alfa Romeo 8C (which did the Goodwood Hillclimb at the weekend), the Milano is more than a little reminiscent of the cracking Alfa super mini – the Alfa Romeo MiTo. The Alfa Milano seems a little lower and wider than the Alfa 147 it is designed to replace, and it’s based on Fiat’s C-Evo platform. That same platform will underpin a number of new Chrysler models, including the new Chrysler Sebring.

When it launches, the Alfa Milano is expected to come with Alfa’s range of MultiAir engines, AMT dual-clutch transmission and have a four wheel drive option.

The Alfa Romeo Milano is expected to show before the end of the year and be in showrooms in early 2010. And it’s nice to see Alfa Romeo reverting to names instead of numbers to denote its model range.