“The ability to experiment and innovate needs to be melded with the other design needs of a vehicle, such as safety, comfort, performance and sustainability, as well as the specific requests that come from sales and marketing,” Guasco explains. “Our team deals with the more sensory and emotional aspect of a car. We use color and materials to decorate the interior and exterior and give the vehicle character and personality.”
Where do ideas come from?
“Inspiration can come from a fashion show or a trip to the flea market,” Guasco says. “Ideas come from all sorts of situations. What is important is how we interpret these ideas in a vehicle’s design.”
“Over the last twenty years, for example, materials have changed a great deal and have become key features in design. Here at the FCA Design Center, we have worked on this concept a lot and have proposed some real revolutions. Take, for example, the 500 family and the wide variety of versions it comes in. The interiors are designed and built around various target customer types. The different versions share certain basic concepts, such as the shape and texture of the materials and the selection of a contemporary design.”
If you look at the latest Fiat 500, the 500 Collezione, which was developed here at the Design Center, you can immediately see how this car interprets the latest trends in men’s fashion. It is a fashion-forward car inspired by the nuances of the seasons and built around unique combinations of color and materials, such as the “Brunello” two-tone color scheme, the fresh interiors featuring pin-striped fabric, and the copper-colored alloy rims. “For this special version, we pushed the envelope a bit more,” says Rossella Guasco, “because we took inspiration from elements of men’s fashion, such as pinstriped suits and the gray and burgundy colors that are so appealing to women.”