Fiat wants to sell its Topolino in Europe under the Italian flag. Italy has detained him at the border because of lying

• Fiat follows the same law that changed the name of Alfa Romeo Milano to Alfa Romeo Junior

• The latest layoffs result in a pitched battle between the Italian government and Stellantis

About a year ago, Fiat introduced the Topolino. Stellantis conceived the idea of ​​the Citroën AMI as a small electric vehicle of less than three meters for mobility in urban environments and much more. Chic, Cold Or, simply, more visually appealing than the French alternative. A vehicle that was, at first, sold as Italian.

Now Italy has denied him entry for not being Italian enough.

fiat topolino, If Carlos Tavares has one specialty, it’s making the most of the resources he has. A good example of this is the Fiat Topolino. This electric vehicle was introduced in 2023 as a new option for getting around the city with a lot of style at a low price.

In fact, this light or heavy quadricycle (depending on the variant chosen) is a rebranded Citroën AMI with a number of aesthetic details added. The vehicle is the best example of cost saving in the production chain. The front and rear are the same, only the color of the headlights changes. And it has a single door on both sides, so it is odd in its own way, with the driver’s door opening in the conventional manner and the passenger’s door opening in the opposite direction.

a vein, But for Stellantis the really interesting thing about the Fiat Topolino is its chameleon ability. If the Italian firm has learned anything from its Fiat 500, it’s how easy it is to make a lot of money with small aesthetic details. This allows them to pack the same car in new “special edition” wrapping paper and put it on the road.

The Citroën AMI (in this case the Fiat Topolino) is a great example. We have seen its buggy version and the name Toppolino recovered with the jump to Fiat, which was famous for being a very cheap car between the 1930s and 1950s, in this case the packaging, the pastel tones, the game of stripes on the interior. and the hubcaps are painted to be reminiscent of 50s and 60s Italy.

Not so minor details. If its aesthetics and marketing practice, with photos in a beautiful Italian city, were not enough to emphasize the Italian nature of the product, Fiat decided to include a small Italian flag on the door. car electric vehicle.

That small aesthetic detail has served as justification for stopping 134 units of the model at the border. Yes, there are 134 Fiat Topolinos that cannot enter Italy because “they are not Italian, they cannot display the flag on the side, they violate the law”, in the words collected by RepublicA newspaper has confirmed the matter.

A flag, a cheese and more, The reason for defending the arrest of this shipment from Fiat Topolino is the application of the law designed to protect the marketing of Gran Padano cheese.

In the early 2000s, cheeses from outside its borders began to come to Italy that used Italian symbols as charms. As defended in the said rules, the objective was to avoid confusion for the buyer, so a manufacturer manufacturing outside Italy cannot use images, names, flags or any other type of claim to sell its products. Which reminds us of the country.

Therefore, he claims in the Italian newspaper that customs agents have relied on the application of this regulation to detain more than a hundred Fiat Toppolinos at the border. But, deep down, there is actually a battle between Stellantis and the Italian government. And Topolino is only the second victim.

It was milano while it lasted. Topolino’s arrest is the second measure of pressure that the Italian government uses against Stellantis. Just hours after the brand’s first fully electric SUV, the Alfa Romeo Milano, was officially presented, the Italian government urged a name change. Now, the car is called the Alfa Romeo Junior.

Although the manufacturer announced the name of its first electric car just weeks before it was officially unveiled, the Italian government waited until Alfa Romeo spent a large part of its marketing campaign with the city of Milan. Based on its relationship, the Stellantis company was forced to retire. Name.

from Morocco, The allegation that the Italian government has made to justify both of these actions is that neither of the two cars are produced within Italian borders, so they cannot be sold with commercial claims that make us Reminds me of the country.

In the case of the Alfa Romeo Milano, the electric SUV is manufactured in Poland. The Fiat Topolino is manufactured in the same plant as the Citroen AMI, given all the synergies that exist between the two models. In this case they come from Morocco, where it is produced at an exceptionally low price.

a new fight. We don’t know if it’s the last one or not, because if this continues, Stellantis’ Italian companies will have to take maximum caution to avoid having to deal with the Italian government again. The battle between the company and the government seems to be going on for a long time.

In recent months we have seen Carlos Tavares lay off thousands in the country and ensure that the only way to make the affordable cars we want to buy is to move them to less developed countries like India. He is even considering assembling Leapmotor’s Chinese cars in his Italian plants, which, according to Tavares himself, are causing great harm to the European industry.

Fiat, they assure Republic, confirms that he will choose the simplest option: removing the flag from the door. The company also emphasizes that they never hid that the car was manufactured in Morocco. From the government’s side, the victory is small as one will be able to stick a small sticker copied from the original vehicle.

Images | Charter

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