Update from April 16, 2024: The Milano/Junior affair leaves a aftertaste. The brand’s new small SUV is currently being shown to the public in the Larusmiani boutique in Milan. The city that now foregoes an advertising effect. At the same time, it seems strange that the decision to change the name was announced on yesterday’s national day of “Made in Italy” in Italy.
In addition, the name Milano had been fixed since mid-December 2023. But no excited minister spoke up at the time. Our Italian Motor1 colleagues criticize the quarrel as a fatal signal to international investors. What can they rely on when Italian politics is so erratic? Anyway: We have expanded our gallery of the Milano/Junior to over 100 images. There you will now find more photos like these:
An actually unremarkable name: Milano, the Italian word for Milan. And yet the new little Alfa Romeo, so named, caused a lot of trouble in Italy. That’s why he’s now being rechristened. Milano becomes Junior. No joke.
The brand is responding to the allegations made by the Italian Minister for Economic Development, Adolfo Urso. The Fratelli d’Italia politician accused the Stellantis group of deceiving customers by naming a car made in Poland after an Italian city. Basically Parma ham from Silesia.
105 Pictures
The brand has therefore made a historic decision: “to promote a climate of serenity”, the new car will from now on be called “Alfa Romeo Junior”. In short, the little Italian car already has an eventful history behind it.
The trigger
A car called Milano cannot be produced in Poland. This is prohibited by Italian law, introduced in 2003, which states that no information may be provided that misleads consumers. (The only question is what Ferrero is doing with the Piedmont cherry, which doesn’t even exist…) “These are misleading statements that are expressly linked to geographical indications,” is the accusation made by the minister following the presentation was collected.
The Alfa Romeo Junior Logo
However, Alfa Romeo had decided not to immediately comment on the minister’s comments and was likely to reconsider its next steps. Instead, a press conference was called today, at which CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato himself took the floor:
“We have decided to change the name, although we know that 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.“
Homage to the hometown
Imparato and his people would still like to emphasize four points:
- The name of the car gives no indication of its geographical origin, to cite other examples from the past;
- there is a precise indication of the vehicle’s Polish origins;
- the Alfa Romeo Milano is designed, engineered, tested and approved in Italy;
- the name is a nod to Alfa Romeo’s historical tradition and culture. “The name Milano was chosen as a tribute to the city where everything originated in 1910,” adds Imparato.
The Alfa boss also smugly thanks the Italian government: “The attention we have received for our new ‘Sports Compact’ over the last few days is very exciting as we have had an unprecedented number of hits to the online configurator, resulting in the website being launched for a few hours collapsed.”
Alfa Romeo GT 1300 Junior
New name from the brand history
After all, the new name “Junior” also has a lot to do with Alfa Romeo, especially since it was also on the Milano’s shortlist: after the success of the Giulia and its coupé version, the Giulia Sprint GT, which was designed by Giugiaro for Bertone, wanted Alfa Romeo appealed to a younger audience who were looking for a brilliant, exclusive car without excessive purchase and running costs.
On September 26, 1966, the GT 1300 Junior was presented in Balocco. Under the sheet metal there was a 1,290 cc twin cam with now 89 hp, which provided more than 170 km/h, which was only slightly below the level of the 1600. With over 92,000 units sold, the GT 1300 Junior quickly became the bestseller in the model series. Will the new Milano…excuse me…Junior be able to do the same?