Alfa Romeo Milano, behind the Italian sound of cars

If the Biscione company paid tribute to the city where it was founded with a new sports SUV, foreign manufacturers have chosen Italian names for many models. Let’s remember them

Maurizio Bertera

April 13, 2024 (modified April 14, 2024 | 12:04) – MILAN

Until a few days the concept of‘The Italian voice it was associated with another great national interest, namely food. If the current government has set the pace to defend our best food products from fakes and imitations abroad – and image damage but above all economic – it must be said that even the previous ones had already moved more or less voluntarily. Rather it was very difficult to predict that we would talk Italian voice in terms of cars: the Minister of Trade and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso did so, insisting that Alfa Romeo broke Italian law by calling the Milano a car that will be built in Poland. Having said that this is a political step within the ongoing conflict between Stellantis and the government, in fact the Industrial Property Code, amended several times after the adoption of the Legislative Decree of 10 February 2005, can justify Urso. But this is not something that interests us, even more considering that, returning to the topic of food, it is one thing to sue foreigners for decades and another to be able to stop them or at least prevent them. If anything, it should be noted that Milan is a tribute to the city where Alfa Romeo was born, which follows the memory of two important passes in the Alps as such. Stelvio e Tonal. And that from 2005 to 2010, Pininfarina produced a coupe Brera, one of the most popular neighborhoods in Milan. And if you want, there is also there Rivers (MilanTurin), the only small car from Biscione built from 2008 to 2018. Living for a long time in Italy and living for a long time in the city of Navigli, but Alfisti will not forget the two-seater sports car Montreal, built from 1970 to 1977. Voice of Canada?

LINGUISTIC DELIRES

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No, the car was actually requested by the Canadians: in 1967, the organizers of the Montreal Universal Exhibition chose Alfa Romeo to create a prototype car that could represent “the highest aspirations that can be achieved by man in terms of cars”, in order. to show it as a technological symbol of the Exhibition. Quicker to say than to act, sir Marcello Gandini designed the Biscione model, built in four models by Bertone. Success at the show and requests from Canadian and American dealers were so compelling and repeated that Alfa Romeo had to put the car into production. This is to say that we should not be too happy with the names of Italian cities given to foreign cars that basically bring respect – if they are well built – to our country. And in any case, the names of the cities are those chosen at random and leave you confused. You pass by Suzuki Alto and Baleno or Volkswagen Lupo but Daihatsu Consorte (sedan from the 70s), Mitsubishi Pistachio (three-door hatchback from the early 2000s), Isuzu Piazza (small mid-size sports car from the 80s) and the Nissan Stanza (sedan built from 1977 to 1992) would qualify class action, more than Minister Urso’s reprimand. We can console ourselves by noting that the Japanese have historically had a weakness for us, among other things also for food.

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FORD MAINTENANCE

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Let’s go back to the cities. It is not clear why Kia decided to remove the ‘r’ from Sorrento to name its flagship European SUV range: maybe it was afraid of some lawsuits? Fortunately, Ssangyong has instead chosen to celebrate Italy by naming its first SUV Tivoli: there is no mispronunciation either because reading the name of the city in Lazio backwards becomes “I lov it”, that is, I love it. Considering the small success (less than 50 thousand units), we must listen to the Opel of the 80s for disrupting one of the fastest cities that Monza for the ugly coupé that was replaced by the more functional Calibra (more than Italian voice it’s a nuisance) in 1989. But the company that looked more closely at our cities was Ford, which from the 1960s – perhaps also due to the failure of the last minute purchase of Ferrari – played a lot on the landscape. First and Cortina (sedan only for the English market, produced from 1962 for the next two decades), then and Capri (the coupe was produced in three series from 1969 to 1986) and again with Torinoreserved for North America and built in several variants – coupé, sedan, station wagon and cabriolet – between 1968 and 1976. The evolution of the Torino GT version which featured a sports interior led to the launch of Gran Torino with a more aggressive look than the previous one, incorporating a large ‘fish mouth’ grille. A poorly made model, not strong, made with outdated technology and quite heavy. But the first immortality of use in the popular American television series Starsky & Hutch between 1975 and 1979 and later as the car of an ex-veteran and former Ford employee, played by Clint Eastwood in the film. Gran Torino of 2008. Sometimes, also for the Turin of cars.