A MAJOR car brand has been forced to remove a tiny detail from one of its models – as it broke an obscure Italian law.
Last week, police seized more than 130 Fiat motors imported from Morocco carrying a sticker with the colours of the Italian flag on their doors.
According to a report in Reuters, 134 Fiat Topolino models – the brand’s supermini that resembles the iconic 500 – were taken and held by police until the manufacturer made the change to each one.
An Italian law introduced in 2003 forbids Fiat and other Italian brands from using the nation’s ‘tricolore’ flag on products made outside of the country.
The motor is produced at the Kenitra plant in Morocco, where other superminis from Stellantis are built – such as the Citroen Ami.
A spokesperson for Stellantis said: “The sole purpose of the sticker was to indicate the entrepreneurial origin of the product.”
The design of the new Topolino – a historic model for Fiat that goes all the way back to 1936 – was conceived and developed in Italy by Fiat’s design team based.
The spokesperson added: “In any case, to resolve any issues, it was decided to intervene on the vehicles with the removal of the small stickers, subject to the green light by the authorities.”
Italy’s government and Stellantis have been at odds over the group’s production choices in recent months – insisting that Italian products should be produced domestically.
Just last month, another Stellantis brand, Alfa Romeo, were forced to change the name of its new “Milano” motor to “Junior” – as naming their new EV after a city in Italy was criticised after it was built in Poland.
This comes as another major car brand were forced to recall a popular EV after a worrying fault was discovered.
And elsewhere, a popular car dealer which sponsors Premier League giants has gone into administration with hundreds of jobs at risk.
