Alfa Romeo to Change Front License Plate Design Due to EU Regulation

TapTechNews May 28th, Alfa Romeo cars have always had two signature design details: the cleverly concealed door handle above the rear door and the offset front license plate. Among them, the concealed rear door handle disappeared with the discontinuation of the Giulietta model in 2020, but later returned in the Junior model. And now, the offset front license plate will exit the stage and may not return.

Alfa Romeo officially announced that all its upcoming new models will adopt a centrally symmetrical front license plate design.

The reason behind this change is the new 'General Safety Regulation' (GSR) enacted by the European Union. According to Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos, the design director of Alfa Romeo, the regulation requires vehicles to move the license plate position to the center to reduce the risk of pedestrian injury.

Foreign media Motor1 questioned the rationality of the regulation. For example, how does the regulation know the specific location where pedestrians collide with the vehicle? When a vehicle directly hits a pedestrian, does the location of the license plate really have a decisive impact on the degree of injury? Motor1 then proposed two alternative plans: completely cancel the front license plate, similar to some states in the US that do not require a front license plate; or use a sticker instead of the license plate, because the sticker is safer compared to the front license plate that protrudes from the body.

TapTechNews noticed that Alfa Romeo has currently released the new model Junior and has taken the lead in adopting the centrally installed front license plate design. Thanks to the lower license plate position, the car's signature shield-shaped grille (Scudetto) has not been greatly affected. The design director also revealed that the next-generation Giulia and Stelvio electric models will also undergo a facelift in the front face design. Due to the absence of an air intake design, the signature V-shaped grille will adopt a closed design.

Although the European Union regulation has forced Alfa Romeo to abandon the offset front license plate design to a certain extent, the design director Mesonero-Romanos expressed acceptance of this: 'This will bring the symmetry of the car body design, and I personally prefer the centrally installed front license plate.'

It is worth noting that although Alfa Romeo has been using the offset front license plate design since the 1950s, the company has also launched many classic models with a centrally symmetrical front license plate design in history, such as SZ, GTV, Montreal, Alfetta, and Alfasud, etc.