An ongoing dispute between the manufacturer and its Milan based workers has resulted in a change of name for the replacement 147 from Milano to Giulietta.
Alfa workers in Milan (Milano in Italian) are angry with Fiat S.p.A. who are the owners of Alfa because they planned to use the city’s name for the new car that would arrive in time to see the plant close after its 99 years of production.
Early next year the last of the Milan based designers and engineers would be relocated to Turin where Fiat believe they will save money and increase efficiency.
At least 20 years ago Alfa employed around 20,000 people in the city of Milan, Fiat purchased the company in 1986 and has slowly moved the manufacturer from its birthplace. Production stopped in the Milan area in 2000.
The decision to change the name was made on Friday 27th November and Fiat were planning to release the name and pictures on Monday 30th November. It was well known that the car was going to be named Milano and late on Friday Fiat postponed the release due to organisation matters.
If the car is named Giulietta it will be the third time Alfa will have used this name. The first Giulietta was a sedan and coupe and was built between 1954 and 1965. The second generation was a sedan only and was built between 1977 and 1985.
too hard to pronounce
In Italian there is no J in the alphabet, so they use Gi to make the same sound, like Giancarlo Fisichella, so Giulietta would sounds like Julietta, simple. Except of course English J sounds slightly different from Italian Gi(J) but its the closest why of pronouncing it in a foreign language.
Not for those of us who have Giulietta’s for aver very long time :p
Nice to see the names comming back………. So much more meaningful than just a number.
BTW I reckon “Fix it again tony” really need their behinds kicked for moving Alfa from Milano that is like removing the bridge from Sydney…… :-(
No offence Mitch, but I don’t think Alfa are aiming this car at you.
Afa has been putting its number plates to the side since the into of the 156 back in the late 90′s followed by the 147 so it’s not a new design concept.
from the rear it looks kinda nice
It’s a brilliant looking car and I like the new name much better than Milano anyway. It sounds much classier.
Mitch, you are joking, right?
Thank goodness, one company is starting to get rid of the stupid and sterile number namimg system for their cars!! Numbers and random letters are the worse names for cars ever.
Indeed. Nobody has a clue what you’re talking about when you mention random strings of numbers and letters like 911, M3, GT-R, C63, R8, 599 GTB, or even something a bit Gallic like 205 GTi. Nope…no association with anything there.
Huh?? The names are still rubbish even if the names are well known. If you said 599 GTB to the avearge punter they wouldnt have the slightest clue, but if you say the name Tesstarossa they would know immediately its a Ferrari.
The license plate to the side of the grille (in the first photo) looks stupid.
New model looks good. Irregardless of the name, this Alfa Romeo still looks nice.
Actually the Milano name was used for the Alfa 75 series produced betwwen 86-93 for the US market.
C/A do you have any specs or further details on the car itself?
If Alfa says its cool to have the number plate on a side then its cool..
Where is it going to go with its grille?
Hi, Nothing wrong with the offset plate. In fact, in Italy, they run a small plate on the front quite often. We get them made here in New Zealand too slightly smaller than normal and stuck on.
They look great!