Replica cars illegal in Italy!

[ant500sl]

Thought at first this was some kind of joke or perhaps general foolishness on the part of The Guardian. Seems that the Italians and the Guardian aren't aware that there are thousands of legally registered Fiero and MR2 based replicas around that look the part but are pretty horrible in reality.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/29/internationalcrime.italy

Perhaps the British government will follow suit and after cutting back on some more coppers on the street will set up mobile patrols to confiscate Mercedes that have had an AMG badge stuck on the back.

 

[Rory]

I guess that's undertandable, if the cars are made without permission of the original makers.

They're much keener to protect their brands in mainland Europe than in the UK. There are stories of holidaymakers having their cars searched and fake handbags and other designer goods taken off them and destroyed in Italy & France.

In Belgium a guy was jailed for simply wearing a fake Rolex, which I don't think is actually illegal in UK.

 

[st13phil]

While visiting Palermo a couple of years ago (great city for a short break, BTW) my wife and I watched astonished as a Police Officer in uniform purchased a fake Rolex watch from a market stall. He put it on his wrist, proudly showed it off to his uniformed patrol partner and then they jumped back in their marked Police car and drove off!

IMO, the most likely reason for the crackdown on the Ferrari replicas is that the local Mafia Boss wasn't getting his cut out of the deal