“A car called Milano cannot be produced in Poland. This is prohibited by Italian law which in 2003 defined Italian Sounding, a law which states that information must not be given that mislead the consumer.” Thus Minister Adolfo Urso in Turin, on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Casa del Made in Italy in Turin, regarding the new Alfa Romeo Milano presented by Stellantis yesterday in the Lombard capital.
“These would be fallacious indications – continued D’Urso – explicitly linked to geographical indications. Therefore a car called Milano must be produced in Italy, otherwise a fallacious indication is given which is not permitted by Italian law”.
As for the presence of Stellantis in Italy, D’Urso said: “We are working to enable Stellantis to produce at least one million vehicles in our country. To support the satellite system it is absolutely necessary to reach 1.4 million of vehicles”.
Then a clarification that has the flavor of an ultimatum after the words spoken yesterday by CEO Tavares: “If Stellantis believes it can do it, so be it, otherwise it is inevitable that there will be room for another or more other car manufacturers. We are a free market: we can and must encourage Italian or foreign investments obviously within the rules of the free market and we are discussing this with those who believe in building production plants in Europe.”
“I understand that Stellantis’ Chinese partner – concluded Urso – intends to build a plant in Europe and is considering whether to do it in Poland or in other countries. It could do it in Italy, welcome. In Spain there are 7 car manufacturers, in France Poland Germany Slovakia Hungary 5 or 6. Italy is the only case in Europe where there is only one car manufacturer, which is unable to satisfy the needs of the internal market. It is an anomaly that must be filled”, he concluded