The Days of 3-Digit Names Are Over for Alfa Romeo

• Alfa Romeo needs a name for a new Sport Urban Vehicle codenamed "Kid," and is inviting social media users for suggestions.

• The automaker has turned to using names from its past, as well as Italian geography in its latest vehicles.

• The upcoming vehicle will be Alfa Romeo's first battery-electric model, the automaker has revealed.

It wasn't that long ago that Alfa Romeo relied on three numbers for model names, with the 146 being its last offering in the 1990s before the company temporarily called it quits in North America. The few exceptions were the Spider—a much older model that soldiered on till the 1990s—and the Milano, which was badged as the 75 in its home market.

But selling a small sedan as 155 or a small hatch as the 145 wasn't exactly using the Italian language to its full potential in marketing. However, the days of three digits are over. Now, Alfa Romeo wants your help in naming a new Sport Urban Vehicle, or what Alfa says will be an SUV codenamed "Kid" at the moment, that is slated be offered in the European market.

"After the Giulia marked the brand's renaissance, Alfa Romeo selected the names of two mountain passes, Stelvio and Tonale, as vehicle names," the automaker says, hinting at some possible preference for geographic names.

Indeed, it's difficult to believe that Zagato adopted the Stelvio badge earlier than Alfa Romeo for a Nissan-based coupe, about three decades ago, before Moto Guzzi used it in 2007 for a motorcycle, and before Alfa Romeo itself dusted off the name for a crossover just a few years ago.

Giulia, on the other hand, was a range of popular Alfa models from the 1960s, competing with the BMW Neue Klasse cars.