After being chided by the Italian authorities over the identify of its newly revealed crossover, Alfa Romeo has introduced it would change the identify of the Milano to the Junior. Why Junior? Nicely, there’s a proof for that.
Based on the carmaker, the identify references the GT 1300 Junior which was unveiled in Balocco on September 26, 1966. This got here following the success of the Giulia and served to draw new, youthful prospects with out the burden of extreme buy and operating prices, which is becoming for the Mil-sorry, Junior, that’s meant to be most reasonably priced automotive within the firm’s line-up. Over 92,000 models of the GT 1300 Junior had been bought and it grew to become the general finest vendor in Alfa Romeo’s line-up.
“Regardless of Alfa Romeo believing that the identify meets all authorized necessities, and that there are points way more necessary than the identify of a brand new automotive, Alfa Romeo has determined to alter it from Milano to Junior within the spirit of selling mutual understanding,” the corporate stated in a somewhat snarky official launch – it’s titled ‘Alfa Romeo: Milano identify is just not okay? Junior then!’
“The identify Milano, a public favorite, was chosen to pay tribute to town the place our historical past started in 1910. This was not the primary time that Alfa Romeo has requested for the general public’s opinion when selecting the identify of a automotive. It was beforehand performed in 1966 with the Spider 1600 when the identify chosen by the general public was Duetto,” it continued.
“The Alfa Romeo staff want to thank the general public for the constructive suggestions, the Italian vendor community for his or her help, journalists for the big media consideration given to the brand new automotive and the Italian authorities for the free publicity introduced on by this debate. With a singular story and an infinite record of names to select from, the identify change was not a problem. It was a pleasure to go over the record of names chosen as favourites from the general public’s options, one in all which was Junior,” it ended.
Revealed simply final week, the Junior (previously Milano) is constructed on the Widespread Modular Platform (CMP) and could be had with electrical or hybrid powertrains, the previous making it the primary electrical car provided by Alfa Romeo.
Italian officers weren’t happy with the crossover’s unique identify as a result of it will not be in-built Italy. As an alternative, it’s produced in Poland at Stellantis’ Tychy plant alongside the Jeep Avenger and Fiat 600 which use the identical Widespread Modular Platform (CMP), a choice that helps cut back the mannequin’s retail value.
“A automotive known as Milano can’t be produced in Poland. That is forbidden by Italian regulation. This regulation stipulates that you simply can’t give indications that mislead shoppers. So, a automotive known as Milano have to be produced in Italy. In any other case, it offers a deceptive indication which isn’t allowed underneath Italian regulation,” stated Italy trade minister Adolfo Urso stated beforehand, referring to a regulation launched in 2003 that acknowledged it’s unlawful to current a foreign-made product as coming from Italy.
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