Alfa Romeo in the footsteps of DKW, Opel and its own tradition
04/17/2024
Car manufacturers don't have it easy. No sooner had Alfa Romeo unveiled the new Milano compact SUV than the authorities came knocking, as Alfa Romeo now notes in a press release:
"In one of the most important weeks for the future of Alfa Romeo, an Italian government official declared that the use of the Milano model name for the recently unveiled new compact SUV is prohibited by law. The model name Milano, chosen by the public, was chosen to honor the city where Alfa Romeo's history began in 1910. Although Alfa Romeo believes that the name meets all legal requirements, Alfa Romeo has decided to change it to Junior in the spirit of mutual understanding of Milano."
So now it is "Junior". Like its home city of Milan, the name also has a long tradition at Alfa Romeo. The PR people explain:
"Alfa Romeo first used the name Junior in 1966. It was chosen for a variant of the Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT coupé, which primarily appealed to a younger audience. The Alfa Romeo GT 1300 Junior was soon followed by the Alfa Romeo Spider 1300 Junior. Both models were characterized by specific body details and a new engine variant: The four-cylinder with a displacement of 1,290 cubic centimetres rounded off the lower end of the range. With 89 hp, the Alfa Romeo GT 1300 Junior reached a top speed of over 170 km/h, almost matching the performance of the 1600 model. With more than 92,000 units sold, the Alfa Romeo GT 1300 Junior became the bestseller of this model series and a status symbol of its time."
However, the use of the term "Junior" is not entirely pure. In fact, there was already a "Junior" at the end of the 1950s, when DKW called the 750 by that name. The compact two-stroke passenger car was sold under the name "Junior" until 1963.
In 1983, Opel presented the Opel Junior, a small car with an aerodynamic body, at the Frankfurt Motor Show. It never went into series production. Almost 30 years later, the Opel Adam was also initially called the "Junior". However, the decision was then made not to use the designation, which was probably not clearly protectable, and to revert to the first name of the company founder.
