Junior instead of Milan also on the navigator

“Go to … Junior,” and navigator shows the street of Milan. After storms and arguments, Alfa Romeo chooses an ironic way to draw attention to the new car’s name change It happened a few hours after the launch. In fact, instead of loving the Lombard capital, as it is known, the compact sports car will be sold under the historic name of the company. A photo gallery has appeared on Alfa Romeo’s social profile, relaunched exclusively by CEO Jean-Philippe Learned, titled Junior in the middle of Lombardy.

A way to end the controversy after issues with the government about the car. “Although we believe that the name Milano complies with all legal requirements – Learned himself had said when announcing the ongoing changes – Alfa Romeo decides to change the name from Milano to Junior, with the intention of promoting a sense of calm and stability” . And the Minister of Trade and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, who previously defined as “illegal” the choice of the brand Stellantis to produce a new model in Poland with the name Milano “because it violates the law of Italy Sounding”, yes. he was satisfied with the choice.

Smile aside, However, the tone of the story remains hot. Speaking to Autocar magazine, Alfa’s number one called on European politicians to “worry about protecting jobs in the car industry rather than car names”. The real danger for Stellantis and for the entire automotive industry in the near future, says the impresa, comes from Chinese manufacturers bringing their production to Europe: “When you see that MG launches a car that costs 16 thousand euros in Spain, I’m sure they make losses, but they are full money and they can afford it.” And he continues: “You see Tesla reducing prices by 10 thousand euros or more, reducing European rates from 18% to 7, or 8%, and you see some of our German competitors producing in China 40% less to save themselves. . When you see things like that, you have to stress about the cost of making a car.” Learned also noted that when the Stellantis was born in 2021, Alfa was losing “hundreds of millions of euros”, but is now profitable and the next-generation Stelvio and Giulia (scheduled for 2025 and 2026 respectively) will be built in Italy.

According to Impresa, around 12 million people in Europe work in the automotive sector. “Every time a competitor takes one percent of the market (worth about 150 thousand units), you have to put a question mark on the factory. 10 market points, 10 factories. I can also change the name of Milan, but the lost market means the factory. And it is a big problem, because not only the people who work there, but also the suppliers, the impact (of possible closure, ed.) can be big”.