Alfa Romeo Milano changes its name to avoid a legal conflict: from now on it will be called Junior.

Alfa Romeo decided to cut corners, and after the Italian government warned that the Milano name might violate a 2003 law banning the use of Italian names on products of foreign origin (the car is made in Poland), the manufacturer took the decision. To rename your new entry-level SUV Junior to avoid legal conflict..

The name Junior is not new in the transalpine company, as it was previously used in the cult GT 1300 Junior from 1966., designed with a younger audience in mind, as well as some versions of Spider. The brand wants to repeat this move with its latest release, as with a starting price of around 30,000 euros for the Ibrida variant, it will be the most affordable offering in the line-up.

“We understand very well that this moment will go down in the history of the brand. It’s a big responsibility, but at the same time it’s an exciting time. The choice of the Junior name is a natural one, as it is closely linked to the brand’s history and has been one of our and the public’s favorites from the very beginning.”declares Jean-Philippe Imparato, CEO of Alfa Romeo.

“As a team, we have again decided to share our passion for the brand and make the product and our customers a priority. We decided to change the name, although we know that we are not obliged to do so.

, because we want to maintain the positive emotions that our products have always generated and avoid any controversy. “The attention we’ve received in recent days for our new sports compact has been quite impressive as we had a record number of hits to the online configurator which caused the website to crash for a couple of hours.”

Alfa Romeo Junior will be available in hybrid and fully electric versions.

Stefano Odorici, President of the Italian Association of Alfa Romeo Dealersadds for his part that “Alfa Romeo is an inclusive brand that celebrates and generates passion and positive emotions. You can see this clearly when I look into the eyes of our customers when they come to view, test, buy and pick up Alfa Romeo cars at our dealerships.

For this reason, we welcome the company’s decision to change the name of the car from Milano to Junior in light of recent news, which may affect the enthusiasm and great attention that the new car has recently received from our customers. Junior, like Milano, are beautiful names rooted in the history of the brand.

. It is no coincidence that they immediately became public favorites.