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Following the 2012 edition of the “FIAT Likes U” educational program and car sharing scheme, launched in 2012 in collaboration with Italian ministries for Education and for Environment and with eight Italian Universities, the new edition of the project begins its expansion across Europe.
The official presentation was held on last 2 October at the Royal College of Art in London, UK, •with the first lecture given by Roberto Giolito, Vice President of the Fiat-Chrysler EMEA Design Centre.
The event features a free Fiat Panda and FIAT 500 car sharing service provided to the students for two months as well as a new initiative called ‘FIAT Two of a Kind’, which offers RCA vehicle design students the chance to participate in a project which includes lectures by FIAT-Chrysler design directors, the chance to have a clay model produced by Fiat Centro Stile as well as internship opportunities with Fiat Centro Stile in Turin.
Roberto Giolito during the lecture ‘Fiat Two of a kind’
The task assigned to 14 teams – each comprising an average of five students from different design backgrounds – is to envision the possible design evolutions of the Fiat 500 and Fiat Panda in 2020.
The two models represents the core values of the brand: functionality and emotion, two ideas traditionally associated with the Fiat marque, hence the name “Two of a Kind”.
Below we report the official details form the company’s press release.
More specifically, the project will ask aspiring designers to develop new solutions for the interiors and exteriors of the Fiat 500 and Panda, which integrate innovative, immediate ideas in various areas, such as interactivity, digital interface, sustainability and global appeal.
They will be asked to take the various markets into account and respect the stylistic features of the Fiat brand. The ambitious, exciting experience will be supported by a series of lectures held by the design directors that will accompany the teams as they develop their projects from October to December 2013.
The objective of the lectures will be to put the expertise and experience of an international group of designers at the disposal of young students to make a tangible contribution to their education.
The finished works will be presented in December to a panel of experts including Lorenzo Ramaciotti (Head of Global Design Fiat -Chrysler), Roberto Giolito (Head of Design EMEA), Rossella Guasco (Head of Colours and Materials), Andrea Mainini (Head of User Experience & Interaction Design), Andreas Wuppinger (EMEA Design Fiat), Steve Zanlunghi (Managing Director Fiat Group Automobiles UK) and academic staff and authorities from the Royal College of Art.
The projects will be scored according to various criteria: stylistic value, functionality, innovation, originality, connection and market coherence, product, users, communication skills and overall quality of the presentation.
The eventual winners will then be invited to the Fiat’s design centre in Turin for four days to discuss the creation of the clay models of their winning proposals with the modelling team. The models will be completed in advance of the 2014 graduation ceremony at the ‘Royal College of Art’ in London.
The ten winners will also be offered internships with Fiat in Turin from July/September 2014 to February 2015.
In addition to applying their skills and acquiring experience in the processes involved in developing a design model, the training will permit the students to immerse themselves in Italian culture and the values of the Fiat -Chrysler Group brands.
While the project is underway, from October to December 2013, Fiat will be supplying a Panda and a 500 as part of a free sharing service to the students of the Royal College of Art, while also allowing them dedicate themselves and fully understand two great Fiat icons they are attempting to re-interpret for the future.
About “Fiat Likes U”
Launched in 2012 by Fiat and the Italian Ministry of Education with the patronage of the Italian Ministry for the Environment, “Fiat Likes U” offered an array of advantages to some 280,000 students from the eight universities involved.
The car sharing service was used by over 6,000 students who made approximately 28,000 trips totalling more than 320,000 kilometres in the eight cars – Panda and 500L – made available.
(Source: Fiat)
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