A shipment of more than 130 Fiat electric vehicles (EVs) has reportedly been seized by Italian police… and it’s all because of stickers.
Reuters reports 134 Fiat Topolinos – a redesigned version of the Citroen Ami and Opel Rocks Electric quadricycles – were seized by the Italian Guardia di Finanza (finance police) after arriving in Italy last week from Morocco where they’re produced.
The reason? A sticker on the car’s doors which includes the colours of the Italian flag.
The sticker in question is located just behind the door handle
According to a spokesperson for Fiat parent company Stellantis, Italian police allege the stickers could mislead buyers about where the Topolinos are built, falling foul of the country’s ‘Made in Italy’ laws.
Similar regulations recently saw the Alfa Romeo Milano rebadged as the Junior shortly after it was unveiled, as the SUV is built in Poland but its name referenced the Italian city.
Stellantis defended the Topolino’s Italian flag-inspired stickers, saying the city car was designed by its Italian subsidiary Centro Stile Fiat (Fiat Style Centre) – though it has started to remove the small decal.
“The sole purpose of the sticker was to indicate the entrepreneurial origin of the product,” the Stellantis spokesperson told Reuters.
“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.”
As with its Citroen Ami and Opel Rocks Electric siblings, the Fiat Topolino is not a car, and is instead classified as a quadricycle.
None of the three EVs are available in Australia.
