Fiat Downtown - MAUTO Museum, Turin (1) -EDITED

Roberto Giolito (

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic S ...

, 10 November 1962) is an Italian

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

. Acting as Chief Designer at

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

, Giolito is most widely known for the

Fiat Multipla The Fiat Multipla (Type 186) is a six-seater car produced by Italian automaker Fiat from 1998 to 2010. Based on the Bravo/Brava, the Multipla was shorter and wider than its rivals. It had two rows of three seats, where its compact MPV competi ...

(1998, exhibited at

MoMA Moma may refer to: People * Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist * Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician * Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher Places ; Ang ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

), and the 2004

Fiat Trepiùno The Fiat Trepiùno is a transverse front-engine, front-wheel drive, four-passenger concept city car introduced by Fiat at the 2004 Geneva Salon international de l'auto; styled at the Centro Stile Fiat; powered by a 54 hp 1100cc engine and ...

concept — precursor to the

Fiat 500 The Fiat 500 ( it, Cinquecento, ) is a rear-engined, four-seat, small city car that was manufactured and marketed by Fiat Automobiles from 1957 until 1975 over a single generation in two-door saloon and two-door station wagon bodystyles. Launch ...

of 2007, voted

Car of the Year Car of the Year (COTY) is a common abbreviation for numerous automotive awards. The "Car of the Year" phrase is considered to have been introduced by ''Motor Trend'' magazine in 1949 when the new publication named Cadillac as Motor Trend Car of th ...

in 2008 and World Car Design of the Year 2009.

Background

Born in 1962 in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, Giolito graduated in industrial design from

Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche ISIA - Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche (''Higher Institute for Artistic Industries''), is the name of four Italian universities, which train students in the field of design. The ISIAs are in Rome, Florence, Faenza and Urbino. They a ...

(Higher Institute for Artistic Industries, ISIA) in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 1985. For four years he worked in graphic, communications and furniture design before joining Fiat in 1989. In high school Giolito played jazz bass, playing in a high school program with American masters including saxophonist

Lee Konitz Leon Konitz (October 13, 1927 – April 15, 2020) was an American composer and alto saxophonist. He performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's association with the cool jazz ...

and playing through design school, earning money on the side by teaching music. Giolito continues to play jazz music, and collects vintage vacuum-tube-powered audio equipment. Giolito has received design influence from a range of sources, including

Ettore Sottsass Ettore Sottsass (Innsbruck, Austria 14 September 1917 – Milan, Italy 31 December 2007) was a 20th century Italian architect, noted for also designing furniture, jewellery, glass, lighting, home and office wares, as well as numerous buildings an ...

’s Olivetti portable electric typewriter; an early

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

computer with which he designed his home as well as a battery-powered car with

Chris Bangle Christopher Edward Bangle (born October 14, 1956) is an American automobile designer. Bangle is known best for his work as Chief of Design for BMW Group, where he was responsible for the BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce motor cars. Early life Bangl ...

— and architects including

le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

and

Jean Nouvel Jean Nouvel (; born 12 August 1945) is a French architect. Nouvel studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was a founding member of ''Mars 1976'' and ''Syndicat de l'Architecture'', France’s first labor union for architects. He has ob ...

Career

In July 1989 Giolito won a position at Fiat, after responding to an advertisement looking for computer-savvy young designers. At the advanced design studio, Giolito penned several concept cars, including the

Fiat Downtown The Fiat Downtown is a concept car originally shown in 1993 at the Turin Motor Show by the Italian car company Fiat. It was designed by Roberto Giolito. From 1991 to 1993, 2 examples were made in total, first by Stola and second by Fiat from read ...

(1993), Zic (1994), and Ecobasic (2000). At Fiat, he has designed experimental electric vehicles, sedans, sports cars (e.g.,

Maserati Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914, in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Ma ...

) as well as a farm tractor for New Holland. In 2001, he was nominated to chief director at

Fiat S.p.A. Fiat S.p.A., or ''Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino'' (Italian Automobile Factory of Turin), was an Italian holding company whose original and core activities were in the automotive industry, and that was succeeded by Fiat Chrysler Automobi ...

and is currently the head of Fiat &

Abarth Abarth & C. S.p.A. () is an Italian racing and road car maker and performance division founded by Italo-Austrian Carlo Abarth in 1949. Abarth & C. S.p.A. is owned by Stellantis through its Italian subsidiary. Its logo is a shield with a styliz ...

Design. He continues to work on new small models for the company. In 1998 he designed the much discussed and highly controversial

, both criticized and praised, achieving only meager commercial success, and was exhibited in the 1999

exhibition "Different Roads: Automobiles for the Next Century". Proclaimed "Car of the Year" by the magazine "

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

" and for several consecutive years was awarded the "Family car of the year". In 2007 Giolito designed the

car of the year Car of the Year (COTY) is a common abbreviation for numerous automotive awards. The "Car of the Year" phrase is considered to have been introduced by ''Motor Trend'' magazine in 1949 when the new publication named Cadillac as Motor Trend Car of th ...

in 2008, World car design of the year in 2009 and Compasso d'Oro for

industrial design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advan ...

in 2011. From 2011 to 2015, at

FCA FCA may refer to: Arts * Federation of Canadian Artists * Foundation for Contemporary Art, in Ghana * Foundation for Contemporary Arts, in the United States Business and economics * False Claims Act, a United States federal law * Federal Cus ...

Giolito was head designer of the Centro Stile for the Fiat and Abarth brands and also Vice President of the design center for the

EMEA EMEA is a shorthand designation meaning Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The acronym is used by institutions and governments, as well as in marketing and business when referring to this region: it is a shorthand way of referencing the two ...

market. Since 2016 he has been Head of FCA Heritage, the department tasked with safeguarding, publicising and promoting the historic legacy of FCA's Italian brands.

Giolito designs

concept *Fiat Zic concept *

*Fiat Ecobasic concept (as project manager) *

concept *

Fiat 500 (2007) The Fiat 500 is an A-segment city car manufactured and marketed by the Fiat subdivision of Stellantis since 2007. It is available in hatchback coupé and fixed-profile convertible body styles, over a single generation — with an intermediat ...

Fiat 500L The Fiat 500L is a car manufactured by Fiat under the FCA Serbia joint venture and marketed globally since its debut at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. It is classified as a Mini MPV. Based on a variant of the GM Fiat Small platform, ''FCA Sma ...

* Fiat Panda (2011 - present) * Fiat Palio (2011) *

Fiat Ottimo The Dodge Dart is a front-engine, front-wheel drive, four-door compact sedan that was manufactured and marketed by then FCA US LLC, a subsidiary of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. The automobile made its debut at the 2012 North American Internat ...

Honors

*Designer of the year 2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giolito, Roberto 1962 births Living people Italian automobile designers Fiat people People from Ancona