Italy is not happy with it Stellars decision to produce The first fully electric vehicle from Alfa Romeo – called Milano – abroad. Actually, of Italy Industry minister says the decision actually violates Italian law, and he’s actually not wrong.
Earlier this week, the struggling Italian automaker announced its new small SUV from Milanonamed after the northern Italian city of Milan, where Alpha was founded in 1910. There’s only one problem: Stellar wants to build the Milano in his Tychy plant in Polandaccordingly Reuters. It would be the first Alfa Romeo ever be built entirely outside Italy. Here, too, there is a law in Italy that prohibits this sort of thing.
Here’s more of it Reuters on why you can’t make “Italian-sounding” products outside of Italy, and what the country’s economic development minister had to say about it:
“A car called Milano cannot be produced in Poland. “This is forbidden under Italian law,” Adolfo Urso said in Turin, referring to a 2003 law targeting “Italian-sounding” products that falsely claim to be Italian.
“This law stipulates that you cannot provide information that misleads consumers. So a car called Milano must be made in Italy. Otherwise it is a misleading statement that is not permitted under Italian law,” Urso said.
[…]
Urso’s complaint is the latest in a war of words between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s nationalist government and the Franco-Italian automaker, as both sides hold talks over a plan to increase domestic car production to one million units.
The law mentioned by Urso states that it is illegal to represent a product made abroad as coming from Italy. Typically it is used against foods such as the US-made “Parmesan” cheese, which is similar to the Italian “Parmigiano”.
When I first read all of this I was very skeptical that it was a real thing. Surely a country cannot ban such a situation, but apparently it is very true! There’s even a Wikipedia page about itand if it’s on Wikipedia, it must be real!
Anyway, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares defended the decision to produce the Milano outside of Italy and explained why it was made in the first place. The CEO told Automotive News Europe that produces the small crossover Poland will reduce the final price by approximately $10,700. That’s a good reason for me, to be honest. Here’s what Tavares told the drain:
“If a Milano had been built in Italy, it would have started at around 40,000 euros instead of 30,000 euros, which would have limited its potential on the market,” Tavares said during a panel in Milan to mark the launch of the new model.
So far, the Milano is the only Alfa Romeo model to be produced outside of Italy. Tavares confirmed that the next-generation Stelvio midsize SUV, due out in 2025, and the Giulia midsize sedan, due out in 2026, will continue to be built in Cassino, central Italy. Stellantis will invest more than 100 million euros there to establish European production for its new STLA Large platform.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. To be honest, the messy part of me is really hoping this all goes crazy Stellar and Italy, but I like it spicy.