The new Alfa Romeo Milano changes its name after the controversy with the government: the first sports compact car from Biscione will be called Junior. "Despite believing that the name Milano complies with all legal requirements, and in consideration of the fact that there are strictly topical issues more relevant than the name of a new car, Alfa Romeo decides to change the name from Milano to Junior, with a view to to promote a climate of serenity and relaxation", explained Jean-Philippe Learnato, CEO of the brand, who confirmed the production in Cassino of the new Stelvio in 2025 and the new Giulia in 2026, while nothing has yet been decided on the models of 2027. "Caution is important, we will make our industrial plan on the basis of considerations that concern competitiveness and customers. This applies to all the cars we will make in Italy", he underlined.
The Minister of Business and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, was satisfied, having in recent days defined as "illegal" the choice of the Stellantis brand to produce the new Alfa Romeo model in Poland with the name Milano "because it violates the law on Italian Sounding ". "I think it is good news - commented Urso - which arrives precisely on the day of Made in Italy which enhances the work, the enterprise, the typicality and peculiarity of the Italian product that everyone envies us in the world. Good news, which I think can enhance work and enterprise and allow us to reverse course, also with regard to car production in our country". The president of the Fratelli d'Italia senators, Lucio Malan, speaks of "a victory for the Meloni government which since the day of its inauguration has been waging a battle for the protection and relaunch of Made in Italy".
For Learnato, who did not hear from the minister, "the case is closed": "We are not proceeding legally, we have work to do. The name will be changed on all the markets where the car will be sold. For us the point is not to start a controversy, but doing business" explained the manager who also met the dealers. "In one of the most important weeks for the future of Alfa Romeo - said the CEO of the Biscione brand - an exponent of the Italian government declares that the use of the name Milano, chosen by the brand to call the new sports compact car just presented, is prohibited by law. The name Milano, among the public's favorites, was chosen to pay tribute to the city where everything originated in 1910. It is not the first time that Alfa Romeo has asked the public's opinion to choose the name of a car. It happened already in 1966 with the Spider 1600: in that case the name chosen by the public was Duetto".
The new junior name is a tribute to the past. "A completely natural choice, being strongly linked to the history of the brand and having been among our favorites and among the public's favorites from the beginning. It was in second place after Milan", underlined Imparto. "We are perfectly aware - said the manager - that this episode will remain engraved in the history of the brand. It is a great responsibility but at the same time it is an exciting moment. As a team we choose once again to make our passion available to the brand, to give priority to the product and customers. We decide to change, even though we know that we are not obliged to do so, because we want to preserve the positive emotions that our products have always generated and avoid any type of controversy Our new sports compact is something unique, with an unprecedented number of accesses to the online configurator, which caused the website to crash for a few hours." Learned concluded with a joke: "it's like having launched two models in a few days, first the Milano and then the Junior. We are truly unique".