During one of the most important weeks for Alfa Romeo’s future, an Italian government official declared that the use of the name “Alfa Romeo Milano” – chosen by the Brand for its recently unveiled new compact sports car – is banned by law.
The name “Milano,” a public favorite, was chosen for the new Alfa Romeo Milano to pay tribute to the city where our history all began in 1910. This was not the first time that Alfa Romeo has asked the public's opinion when choosing the name of a car. It was previously done in 1966 with the Spider 1600 when the name chosen by the public was Duetto.
Despite the brand believing that the names "Alfa Romeo Milano", "Alfa Romeo Milano Ibrida" and "Alfa Romeo Milano Elettrica" met all legal requirements and that there are issues much more important than the name of a new car, Alfa Romeo has decided to change it from “Alfa Romeo Milano” to “Alfa Romeo Junior” in the spirit of promoting mutual understanding.
The Alfa Romeo team would like to thank the public for the positive feedback, the Italian dealer network for their support, journalists for the enormous media attention given to the new car, and the government for the free publicity brought on by this debate.
With a unique story and an endless list of names to choose from, the name change was not an issue. Indeed, it was a pleasure to go over the list of names selected as favorites from the public’s suggestions, one of which was “Alfa Romeo Junior.”