Fiat Group Automobiles (FGA) has announced that it is to pursue legal action against Italian TV channel Rai Due's flagship programme AnnoZero, for what it perceives were "highly defamatory and damaging" statements made during a road test of the Alfa Romeo MiTo.

The following statement has been issued by FGA in Turin:

"Fiat Group Automobiles announces that it has instructed its lawyers to initiate legal action against the producers of the television show AnnoZero for statements made on air on December 2nd that were highly defamatory and damaging to the image and reputation of the company, its products and its employees and based on a fabricated comparison. In particular, Fiat Group Automobiles takes issue with the manner in which AnnoZero portrayed the performance of three cars, one of which was an Alfa Romeo MiTo, claiming that the "test", apparently conducted in the Autumn, demonstrated the overall technical inferiority of the Alfa Romeo MiTo, on the basis of speed alone.

"The broadcast sought to give the appearance that it was connected to a test actually conducted in the Spring, using different vehicles, by the monthly publication Quattroruote – the results of which were published in the magazine’s June issue," the statement continued. "Incredibly, what the broadcast did not state is that Quattroruote's overall evaluation of the Alfa Romeo MiTo (1,368 cc Quadrifoglio version) – based on a comparison of technical performance, safety and comfort – was higher than for both the Citroën DS3 THP (1,598 cc) and the Mini Cooper S (1,598 cc).

"Fiat therefore intends, motivated also by its desire to protect the thousands of employees that contribute daily to producing safe, technologically-advanced products, to seek damages (to be donated entirely to charity) as a defense against conduct which is both unwarranted and prejudicial to the truth," the press release concluded.