This is no joke!

The end of Milano: this is the new Alfa Romeo name

(Bild: Alfa Romeo)

It almost sounds like an April Fool's joke: the Alfa Romeo Milano, which celebrated its world premiere a few days ago, is losing its name! The Italian government is opposed because the car is to be produced in Poland, but the name would suggest Italian provenance.

It's like Parmigiano, or Parmesan cheese, which can only be produced in Italy if it is to be called that. So now it's Alfa Romeo and you ask yourself: didn't anyone think about this beforehand? At least they have a suitable name up their sleeve: Junior.

The next question could of course be: Was this planned to attract worldwide attention? Italian media already speculated around six months ago that the series with the internal code name 966 was to be called Junior.

However, the look is terrible (not the car, but the fact that the name has to be changed). Facepalm! Shame on you! Oh my God! In terms of marketing, they dug deep into the history box: Alfa Romeo was founded in Milan in 1910. The name Milano would do the image a lot of good, given that the car is a cousin of other vehicles from the Stellantis group. Alfa Romeo has long since ceased to be truly Italian through and through.

At least Junior is an Alfa Romeo name steeped in history. It was used for the Alfa Romeo Giulia GT known as the Alfa Bertone.

So the fact remains: the new Alfa Romeo will be built at the Tychy plant in Poland - the first Alfa Romeo model to be manufactured entirely outside Italy. For good reason: the CEO of Stellantis, Carlos Tavares, explained that the production of the "Milano" in Poland instead of Italy will reduce the sales price by 10,000 euros.

The role model: Alfa Romeo GT Junior(Bild: Matthias v.d. Elbe)

"Milano is misleading"
"A car called Milano cannot be produced in Poland. This is prohibited under Italian law," said Industry Minister Adolfo Urso. He was referring to a law from 2003 that is directed against "Italian-sounding" products that are not manufactured in Italy.

"This law states that you cannot make any claims that mislead the consumer. A car with the name Milano must therefore be manufactured in Italy. Otherwise it is a misleading claim, which is not permitted under Italian law," said Urso.

Alfa Romeo sees itself as a peacemaker
Jean-Philippe Imparato, CEO of Alfa Romeo, is emphatically relaxed: "Convinced that the name 'Milano' meets all legal requirements and that there are more important things than the name of a new car, Alfa Romeo has decided to change the name from 'Milano' to 'Alfa Romeo Junior' in order to promote a climate of peace."

It could be more embarrassing
There are indeed worse things. Mitsubishi originally wanted to call the Space Star subcompact car Mirage. Because the brand did not have the rights to the name everywhere, a new name had to be found at short notice. And because this only became apparent shortly before the market launch and checking a completely new name would have been too time-consuming, it had to be a name that Mitsubishi already had the rights to. So it became Space Star - probably the most inappropriate name imaginable.

This is Stellantis
The Stellantis car group was created in January 2021 from the merger of Fiat Chrysler and the French PSA Group. It includes brands such as Opel, Peugeot, Fiat and Alfa Romeo. The group employs around 43,000 people in Italy - before the 2021 merger, it employed more than 51,000.