Marketing Boss Recalls Alfa Romeo Junior Name Change Rush

The Alfa Romeo Milano existed in the public eye for all of a few days. With the Italian government kicking up a fuss about a car being named after the city despite not even being made in Italy (the car is actually built in Tychy, Poland), a change to the name Junior was hastily put into action.

To find out exactly how this looked behind the scenes, we spoke to Alfa Romeo Head of Global Marketing and Communication Eligio Catarinella at the car’s launch at the Balocco proving grounds in Italy.

Before the reveal of the car, Catarinella had actually shown the car to the mayor of Milan, who raised no objections whatsoever. The Italian government, on the other hand, weren’t so keen.

“Everything was set on ‘Milano’,” Catarinella recalled. “We revealed the car on the 10th, the Wednesday afternoon, and then the morning of Thursday, one of the ministers said there is a certain law - Milano is not allowed for a car not produced here.

“From a legal standpoint, we were OK…But we decided not to go on politics [and] on that kind of discussion of policy”. Although the change wasn’t announced until the 15th, the internal decision was made much faster. “In two days we decided to change the name,” Catarinella said.

In the end, coming up with a new one was easy. Junior, a badge with historical provenance for the firm, was Alfa’s second choice anyway. It’d proven popular on a public poll the company ran, as had MiTo and, yes, Milano. Asked if this ended up being an expensive endeavour for the company, Catarinella replied that it wasn’t, “Because now basically everything is digital.”

“We needed to reprint some badges, some brochures…nothing impossible to be managed”. A car had been shot in Balocco with Milano badges, but again, it doesn’t sound like fixing that was too arduous. 

In any case, whatever Alfa Romeo ended up spending, it arguably got back and then some in free marketing.