Key Takeaways
134 Fiat Topolino EVs had been seized in Italy for falsely promoting their Italian origin.
The Topolino is a completely electrical quadricycle with retro styling and a 47-mile vary.
The Italian authorities strictly enforces protectionist legal guidelines, stopping automakers from deceptive shoppers.
Stellantis has introduced that 134 of its Fiat Topolino EVs had been seized on the port of Livorno, Italy final week after authorities deemed the fashions to be falsely promoting Italian origin. Regardless of being Italy’s largest automaker, the model, like most others, has a worldwide provide chain with automobiles produced in lots of international locations. The Topolino’s in query had been produced in Morocco, and authorities took situation with a sticker that had the colours of the Italian flag on the door.
2024 Fiat 500e
Base MSRP
$32,500
Engine
Electrical
Horsepower
117 hp
Torque
162 lb-ft
“The only goal of the sticker was to point the entrepreneurial origin of the product,” a spokesperson instructed Reuters. The corporate believed that for the reason that automobiles had been designed in Italy by an Italian firm, the stickers weren’t a difficulty, however Italy’s famously protectionist legal guidelines are to not be trifled with.
Constructed In Morocco
The Topolino, which additionally goes by the title 500, can hint its roots all the best way again to 1936. Well-known for its diminutive measurement, the automobile was on sale till 1955, promoting practically half 1,000,000 items and turning into a well-known instance of the Italian automotive business.
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The brand new mannequin is technically a quadricycle, becoming into a special class of auto with leisure efficiency and the flexibility to be pushed by youngsters who cannot drive common automobiles. It is totally electrical and provides adorably retro styling with a spread of 47 miles and a prime velocity of lower than 30 mph. It is principally the definition of a starter automobile, however regardless of its Italian heritage, the Italian authorities does not need you going and considering the brand new one is Italian.
Not Italian Sufficient
Fiat has already agreed to take the stickers off of the automobiles, thereby making them compliant on the market. It is simply one other instance of the Italian authorities stepping in to inform an automaker their automobile cannot cosplay as Italian, irrespective of the origins of the automaker.
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Just some weeks in the past, Fiat’s company cousin Alfa Romeo , maker of the Giulia and Stelvio, obtained into a really related spat over its new Junior SUV. When it debuted, the mannequin was initially known as the Milano, which caught the eye of lawmakers because it wasn’t produced there, however actually in Poland. Italy takes the names of its cities very significantly, and for those who slap a reputation on one thing that is not made there or near it, you are going to hear from the authorities.
Supply: Reuters