“Hide this bumper I can’t see”. Stellantis has removed the Italian flag that crossed the number 600 on the back of this Fiat model launched last year.
After the Milano and Topolino scandals
A vehicle produced at the Polish Tychy factory, like Alfa Romeo’s latest SUV, renamed “Junior” after the scandal caused by the use of a name that made direct reference to Italy, “Milan”. The Italian government then reacted strongly, judging “illegal” place a flag on a model that is not assembled in your territory.
The automobile group took the lead after another episode: 134 Fiat Topolino were seized by Italian customs in the port of Livorno. Assembled in Morocco, this small car without a permit, a cousin of the Citroën AMI, had the misfortune of having a small green, white and red sticker on the door.
It was the Italian media Milano Finanza that revealed last Tuesday this disappearance of the Italian flag on the rear of the 600, specifying that Stellantis had not made any official communication about it.
The Reuters agency collected this information, obtaining at the same time a reaction from the automobile group. Stellantis thus clarified that it made this decision independently with the aim of “operate with total and absolute transparency regarding the assembly location of its products and avoid any misunderstanding in this regard”.
During a presentation event for the Fiat 600 and Topolino on July 4, 2023, Fiat boss Olivier François justified this reference to the Italian flag, because the two models were “Designed and engineered in Italy by Italian engineers.”.
Images removed from official communications.
Visibly hasty decisions because the official photos of the Topolino are no longer available on the Stellantis media site.
On the commercial information pages, the same thing, there is no longer any visual image of this door and its small sticker with the Italian flag, which the group also plans to remove to calm tensions with the Italian authorities.
A module also allowed the Topolino to be observed from all angles: it has been deactivated and now only offers a single angle of view of the small car without permission… without the Italian flag. It is also not possible to see the Dolcevita version, with a cord replacing the doors, as shown in the following screenshot taken last March. Although it is small, you can clearly see the Italian flag on the front.
In the Fiat 600, the same observation. The catalog of photographs available to the media no longer offers a view of the rear of this model, or with angles that no longer allow the flag to be clearly seen.
From this angle, only the hybrid version is offered, with a rear bumper where the Italian flag has in fact disappeared.
In the commercial pages of the Fiat 600e consulted this Thursday, May 23, no viewing angle anymore shows the rear of the vehicle, but it continues to talk about “increased dolce vita” or of “Italian update” (AND “The Italian update” on the brand’s Italian website).
Several questions now arise: what will Fiat do with the 600 and the Topolino already produced under the Italian flag? Will this detail disappear from other markets or could it still be present in France, for example? We were awaiting comments from Stellantis on these points.
Source: BFM TV
