A major car manufacturer has been forced to scrap a 70-year tradition due to new EU safety rules

• The EU’s strict new pedestrian safety regulations have outlawed this unique feature

Italian car manufacturer Alfa Romeo has been forced to scrap a 70-year design tradition for its stylish vehicles due to a new safety law introduced by the European Union.

The manufacturer will no longer sell new models with an off-centre front number plate as they do not comply with EU pedestrian safety rules.

It means that the brand will have to go back to the centrally located plates as used by most car manufacturers.

Alfa Romeo’s customary indented number plate on the front bumper dates back to the 1955 Giulietta Spider and is a design element synonymous with the company and still used on cars today, including the Giulia, Stelvio and Tonale.

For 69 years, Alfa Romeo has favored placing the front license plate off-center.

This allows the iconic triangular ‘Scudetto’ grille to run from the top of the hood to the lowest part of the bumper without being covered in any way.

But the cars in showrooms today are likely to be the last to have this unique feature, bosses said.

Alfa Romeo design chief Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos confirmed in an interview with automotive specialist Autocar that its next-generation models – and those to come – will feature conventional centrally-located front fascias.

He told the publication that the offset plate was outlawed by “homologation regulations” introduced as part of the European Union’s general safety regulations to give pedestrians better protection if they are hit by a car.

“Some die-hard Alfis who think an Alfa Romeo isn’t an Alfa Romeo if it doesn’t have a number plate on the side won’t be happy,” said Mesonero-Romanos.

He added that “there are a lot of beautiful Alf Romeos in history that have the number plate in the middle”.

Despite what fans may think, the lead designer says there will be benefits to the move.

‘[The regulation] it will allow us to have symmetry anyway, so I’m happy – I’m one of those who like the plate in the middle,” he told Autocar.

Alfa Romeo has already made a change to the centrally located front nameplates on its new Junior model – the company’s first all-electric model, which has been mired in its own controversies.

The SUV was unveiled in April, although it was dramatically vetoed by Italian lawmakers because its Milano nameplate violated domestic laws that block manufacturers from proposing products made in Italy.

The electric SUV is made in Poland – the first Alfa to be built outside of Italy’s borders – and was therefore banned from using the name of the fashion capital where Alfa is based.

The Junior has a smaller version of the scudetto grille available in two different designs: ‘Progresso’ or ‘Leggenda’.

The former is a sportier, contemporary look created by the boxy reimagining of the Alfa Romeo emblem, while the latter is a more traditional vented design that pays homage to its historic vehicles.

The first Alfa Romeo to have the front plate offset to one side (which is almost always offset to the adjacent side) was the 750/101 series Giuletta Spider debuted in 1955.

Because the radiator was located directly behind the shield-shaped scudetto grille, Alfa’s design team placed the license plate on the side so as not to compromise engine cooling, which could cause the car to overheat.

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Since car manufacturers will soon be forced to sell only electric cars, there will usually no longer be a need for ventilation grilles to cool internal combustion engines.

Alfa Romeo is probably the only major car company affected by EU changes to pedestrian safety rules.

Bugatti also uses off-center front number plates on its hypercars, while models from the past – such as the Mercedes-Benz SLR and Mitsubishi Lancer – have also deployed side number plates.

In 2017, British car manufacturer Land Rover made headlines for its controversial offset rear fascias on its Discovery 4×4.

Following the traditional placement of the label on the adjacent part of the tailgate, the current version is only slightly off center to the left.

Why the latest model’s asymmetric design was a tip of the hat to previous-generation Discoveries, its designer Gerry McGovern accused car dealers in 2017 of making it worse by fitting larger number plates.