It may not mean much in the long run, but Alfa Romeo’s recent trademark application of the “Giulietta” name in the U.S. could be a sign that the Italian automaker is doubling down on its push to be relevant in the business again. According to Car and Driver Alfa’s parent company, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, filed a trademark application for the name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Now what this means is anybody’s guess at this point, but it is worth mentioning that Alfa Romeo does have a hatchback model in its future plans, something we all learned about when the company unveiled its updated five-year plan back in 2016. At that time, the “mysterious hatchback” was being penciled in to debut sometime between 2017 and 2020. It’s not clear if this future hatch will still carry the Giulietta name, but the possibility of that happening is a lot more real now that FCA has filed a trademark application for the name. It would be better though if we got any sort of updates from Alfa Romeo itself beyond its typical PR spin. As it stands, the company is making some noise on the back of how well the Giulia sedan and Stelvio SUV have been received. But those two models can’t continue to carry the weight for Alfa Romeo. At some point, they’re going to need a third model to share in some of that burden. Whether that model is the Giulietta or not remains to be seen. But if this trademark application bears fruit in the end, we could be seeing the Giulietta in U.S. shores sooner than later.

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What could this trademark application mean for Alfa Romeo

To be fair, the current Alfa Romeo Giulietta isn’t dead yet. It’s actually still being sold in the US, and somewhat surprisingly, it has held its own against more established rivals like the Mercedes CLA-Class, BMW 2 Series, and Audi A3. It’s not lighting its segment on fire, but it has performed about as well as Alfa would’ve expected out of it. That leads us to questions about its future. Is the Giulietta doing well enough to warrant getting another update or an entirely new-generation offering? The current-generation model certainly has some mileage in it on account of it being around for seven years now so if Alfa Romeo does decide to bring back the Giulietta, it could be doing so under the premise that a next-generation model is around the corner.

That’s probably why this trademark application was taken care of pretty quickly, especially with all the rumors swirling about its own fate as part of the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Remember, the automaker is in a curious position because of all the whispers that FCA is looking into selling its stake in the company. It’s not the most ideal place to be in knowing that the company could change ownership at any given point in time so even that long-term strategy that started with the respective launches of the Giulia and Stelvio could change if Alfa finds itself answering to a new boss.

Nevertheless, that situation really is out of Alfa Romeo’s hands so it can’t wait for any resolution on that matter before it starts doing anything meaningful again. What it should do is to remain committed to meeting goals from its updated five-year plan. That includes a hatchback model that may or may not be the next-generation Giulietta. Either way, Alfa Romeo’s doing its homework by filing this trademark application. If it decides to go in a different direction, it can do that. But if it decides to once again ride on the shoulders of the Giulietta name - here in the U.S., at least - it can do that as well.

Should be interesting to see where this goes because the Giulietta, for all its quirks and hang-ups, is still a very interesting model.

References

Alfa Romeo Giulietta

Read our full review on the 2014 Alfa Romeo Giulietta.

Read more Alfa Romeo news.