Less than a week after Alfa Romeo launched its Milano, the Italian car manufacturer is already changing the name of the new model. The Milano, a compact crossover, will now be called Junior. Interestingly enough, political pressure from the Italian government is the reason for the name change.
Adolfo Urso, the Italian Minister of Entrepreneurship and – yes – ‘Made in Italy’, says he is satisfied with the name change. After all, Milano, a reference to Alfa Romeo’s historic home town, is the first Alfa Romeo to be manufactured entirely outside Italy — in Poland. A 2003 law bans the use of Italian brand names on products manufactured outside Italy.
“Otherwise a false indication is given,” said Urso, who is a member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-right Fratelli d’Italia party and pressed for a name change. Yet it is somewhat striking that the law is also applied in this case, because it is primarily intended to guarantee protected names from the agricultural and food sector, such as Parmesan cheese, balsamic vinegar from Modena or San Marzano tomatoes.
Urso further said that the Italian government wants to ensure that the car conglomerate Stellantis, of which Alfa Romeo has been part since 2021, can produce at least one million cars in Italy. “If Stellantis thinks it can do that, then yes, otherwise there will inevitably be room for other car factories. We are a free market economy,” Urso said. The minister announced that Stellantis’ Chinese partner wants to open a branch in Europe. “That could be possible in Italy, even if it would be nice.”
Free publicity
Alfa Romeo responded resignedly and even a bit laconic to the name change. “Even though Alfa Romeo thought that the name met all the legal conditions and that there are more important things than the name of a car, Alfa Romeo decided to change the name.” The Italian car manufacturer even thanked the government “for the free publicity due to this discussion”.
“We decide to change, although we know we are not obliged to do so, because we want to preserve the positive emotions that our products have always evoked and avoid any kind of controversy,” concludes CEO Jean-Phillipe Imparato.
The new name, Junior, is also linked to the history of the brand and was a version of the GT 1300 model from 1966. According to Alfa Romeo, the new Junior would have been 10,000 euros more expensive if it had been produced in Italy.