AUTUMN 1997

Roberto StolaAt the beginning of the autumn of 1997, Fiat Auto asked its most trusted suppliers for greater commitment to production activities. These would be managed as outsourcing in Italy and worldwide.
The management of the central purchasing office of the Turin Automotive Group contacted Roberto Stola to understand the availability of Stola s.p.a. for an important industrial initiative to be carried out in Brazil.
A substantial commitment was required for the supply of sheet metal stamping, assembled subgroups and complete raw bodies, related to the Palio family vehicles which would need to be delivered "just in time" for painting and final assembly in the nearby Fiat factory.
South America and Brazil in particular, were becoming one of the most important markets for the automotive sector, Fiat, Volkswagen and GM Chevrolet were leaders of this immense commercial region known as Mercosur.
Fiat's goal in that part of the world was therefore to increase its production, grow in quality and above all to insert specific new models suitable not only for South America, but also other emerging markets around the world.
The correct name for Fiat in Brazil is Fiat Automoveis S.A., more commonly nown by the acronym FIASA.
The headquarters and large production site were in Betim, a town in the metropolitan area of ??Belo Horizonte; the Chief Executive Officer at the time was Engineer Giovanni Razelli who had also held the role of "Superintendent" since 1996.

1997 Ing. Giovanni Razelli (FIASA)

Engineer Luigi Sburlati director of the Fiat Palio technical platform from 1993 to early 2002.

Since the beginning in 1992,Technical responsibility for the Palio projects was entrusted to Engineer Luigi Sburlati through the so-called "Fiat 178 Platform".
The Fiat Palio had been built in Brazil since 1996, with new production sites were gradually added in Argentina, Venezuela, Poland, Turkey, Morocco, South Africa, India and China.
These were be the countries where Fiat's first "World Car", known by it's code name Type 178-A, were produced.
The involvement of Stola s.p.a. was required not only for the construction of a molding and assembly factory for raw shells, but also to deal with the product engineering of all future generations of Palio family vehicles in a six-year plan starting from the end of 1997.

1996 An image of the strategy of the productive launch of the Palio 178 A.

Brazil 1996. Engineer Sburlati with a Fiat Palio 178-AThe great success of the first Type 178-A series to market led the Turin automotive group to decided to focus even more on this model, adding variants and planning further production enhancements.
Roberto and Alfredo Stola therefore decided to support the proposal by creating a new company, 100% owned by Stola s.p.a., to be known as "Stola do Brasil".
The trademark was the traditional rhombus but in green, in tribute to the Brazilian flag.

This entrepreneurial choice esured an extraordinary amount of work in the engineering design sector, which consequently led to the creation of models, mathematical surfaces, master models, prototypes and assembly masters.
It must be noted thatover time Fiat Auto required that "a part" of these specific engineering activities were carried out locally in the offices of the Stola do Brasil factory in Belo Horizonte.
The six-year work program included the complete development of a pick-up based on the Type 178-A chassis in two configurations (short and long cab), whose start of production for raw bodies was scheduled for August 1998 .
Over time, these pick-ups included restyling work known as Type 178-2 to be launched on the market in 2001, and Type 178-3 in 2003, both alwaincluding all the various versions.
Stola spa, through its Italian reference banks, procured loans of 50,000,000,000 lire to invest in Stola do Brasil, whose operational headquarters were in the city of Belo Horizonte at Anel Rodoviario BR 262 Km 21.5 Bairro Dona Clara Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State 31255-375.
This substantial sum of money was necessary not only for construction work and infrastructure, but also for all means of work, press lines, equipment, machinery, production start-up and staff,including their training.
The numbers are impressive, in fact the targets shared with Fiat included a covered work surface of 80,000 square meters, 760 employees, and a processing of 35,000 tons of sheet metal per year and a plan to install three complete lines of presses.
For tall construction work, including plants, Stola entrusted the works to the construction and plant company Fiat Engineering, with an agreement signed in November 1997, a necessary choice in order to respect the timescales agreed in the contract.
In essence, every organizational and operational aspect both for the building works of the plant and for those relating to the engineering and tooling product of the two Palio Type 178-A pickups would start at the beginning of December 1997.
Roberto Stola concentrated first hand on this effort,assisted by Engineer Carlo Alecci, Doctor Carlo Biassoni and Marco Goffi and many other technicians with dozens and dozens of flights to Brazil, working together every single day to maintain this extraordinary commitment.

1997 - 2003 countless dozens of trips to Belo Horizonte departing from Milan Malpensa with a stopover in San Paolo and departure for Pampulha.
The transcontinental flight always with the VARIG MD11 and the internal transfer with the VASP Boing 737-200

Carlo AlecciCarlo BiassoniMarco Goffi

1997 Newton Garzon (Stola do Brasil)The Engineer Newton Garzon, a man appreciated by the management of FIASA, was appointed in November 1997 as "Superintendent" (equivalent of CEO of Stola do Brasil ).
At his side as deputy Cavalier Guido Maina, former manager of Fiat Auto Technologies in Turin, an expert in the South American industry and above experience of management in the construction and operation of large factories.
For the immense work related to the construction of the building structures, the technical systems and the start of production, Engineer Alecci, convinced his former colleague Engineer Alvaro Puglisi to leave Comau and join the managerial team in February 1998, moving to Belo Horizonte for two years.
Under the very particular attention of Roberto Stola and his Italian team, the management were selected who would become to be permanently resident in Brazil; Enrico Negri for production, Celio De Castro for staff, Giuseppe Facchin for stamping, Arturo Vidal for paneling, Giancarlo Zago for quality, Pauline Wooley for management control and Marcus Pacheco for administration.
Puglisi had experience in the construction of the means of work and equipment necessary for the production start-up of the bodywork assembly lines; in addition to this, he was also be asked to assist Cav. Maina for every construction aspect contracted to Fiat Engineering.
Bisogna immaginare che la partenza di tutto è un terreno selezionato da Fiasa di 200.000 metri quadrati in una zona boschiva e particolarmente umida.
Alvaro Puglisi per tutto il tempo trascorso a Belo Horizonte potrà sempre contare sul supporto giornaliero di Roberto Stola, Alecci, Biassoni e Goffi oltre che della Direzione della Stola do Brasil.
It is necessary to imagine that everything began with a 200,000 square meter tract of land selected by Fiasa in a particularly humid wooded area.
Alvaro Puglisi for his duration in Belo Horizonte could always count on the daily support of Roberto Stola, Alecci, Biassoni and Goffi as well as the management of Stola do Brasil.
The two Strada-type pickups of the Palio 178-A family was the first ambitious goal, and in this phase, given that the plant in Belo Horizonte was far from completed, any technical development work aimed at it's engineering and modeling and related activities would be carried out at Stola spa in Rivoli, with the support of the Cinisello Balsamo office.
The production equipment, such as molds, assembly lines and their related design was ordered directly by Stola s.p.a. from SAT in Beinasco, a company owned personally by Roberto Stola which he founded in 1968, and whose operations, both in Italy and in Brazil, were handled by Marco Goffi.
In parallel with the construction of the Stola do Brasil plant, the development of product engineering and the construction of the means of production, another immense work is needed; the supply of press lines to be shipped to Brazil and then put into operation within the plant.
In Rivoli, Stola rented a two-storey building in via Ivrea 86 right next to its headquarters, to house an important group of engineering technicians dedicated to the pick-up project, essentially a work space that took the name of "Palio Platform.".
The purpose of this building is to host Fiat and Stola members as a single team, in order to simultaneously carry out all the design activities of the bodywork, chassis, interiors, electronics, electrical and structural calculations.
It was a very innovative way of working at the time and became known as "simultaneous engineering", the purpose of whiuch was to involve each supplier of parts and systems of the project from the beginning of the engineering together with the car manufacturer.
This first project went on to be marketed under the name "Strada" in both the short and long cab versions and was styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro.
The Project Manager of Stola for these two commercial vehicles is Pierangelo Bergamasco under the direction of Gottardo Bustreo.

Rivoli January 5, 1998 the first semi-functional model / prototype representing the Fiat Palio 178-A pick-up;
the design is by Giorgrtto Giugiaro.

Gianfranco Morlacchi, head of Stola's "Information Systems", went on to coordinate IT for over six years with Fiat / Fiasa including all the other plants around the world where the Tipo 178 was produced.
This ensured that the IT technical language was univocal and in line with project standards requested by the customer.
In particular, the network infrastructure shown in the image below was built with the Systems Team composed of Massimo Cafasso, Claudio Cavalotto, and Sergio Antonaccio.

The interconnection between the Stola offices in Italy, those of Belo Horizzonte and Fiasa in Betim allowed the real-time transfer of mathematics from Italy to Brazil and vice versa.
This system made possible the meetings necessary for the correct development of the project, and not secondary due to the difference in time zones, it also allowed the optimized use of the expensive software resources available in the various locations.

The engineer Paola BusatoIn this complex organization, Engineer Paola Busato was responsible for the "Codep Bill of Material" for Stola, that is, all the management of the individual methods. This proved to be more complex than usual due to the 9 different production sites.
Returning to the two pick ups, it must be said that all the front part including doors and interiors are derived from the Tipo178, a two-volume hatch back, the chassis however required important technical changes, especially in the central and rear part to increase its robustness given it's different use. including modification to the shock absorbers.
In the meantime, since the beginning of January 1998, the construction work of the Stola do Brasil plant proceeded at a pace. 180 Fiat Engineering construction workers in three shifts, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and with the help of photoelectric cells allowing work through the night.
75% of the construction works would have to be finished and usable to instal the various pick-up production lines no later than the end of the summer, required to fulfill the commitments made in Turin with Fiat management.

Gennaio 1998 Gennaio 1998

February 1998 a symbolic moment of the laying of the first brick of the Stola do Brasil factory. In these two photos we recognize Celio De Castro, Margiaria, Newton Garzon, Marco Goffi, the person bent with his hand on the brick is the engineer Jonas Carvalho, director of the Fiasa purchasing office, Borra, Alvaro Puglisi, Guido Maina, Johao Bosco and Margiaria director of the Fiasa plant in Betim (you can only see the right shoulder with the light jacket).

March 1998 Belo Horizon: for purely bureaucratic reasons it happened that the ceremony of laying the first bricks took place several times for ceremonial reasons. From left the engineer Alvaro Puglisi, Celio De Castro, the engineer Margiaria and Marco Goffi.

February 1998

For the construction company Fiat Engineering, the situation was so extreme that, unable to source special steel alloy beams to brace the plant roof in South America, they will had purchase them in Italy and organize a dedicated cargo flight from Milan Malpensa to Belo Horizonte by renting an Antonov AN 124 plane.
The supplier of the special beams was Acciaierie Verona s.p.a., which delivered 100 tons of finished prefabricated material; the landing of the giant Russian freighter in Belo Horizonte did not go unnoticed, and the news was reported in many local newspapers.

At the end of winter 1998, in an emergency, Fiatengineering, the contractor for the construction of the plant, has to order 100 tons of metal beams in great haste. They will be made by the Acciaierie Verona s.p.a. and flown from Milan Malpensa s Belo Horizonte Pampulha with a dedicated Antonov AN-124.

March 1998 March 1998
March 1998 March 1998
April 1998 April 1998

April 1998 on the grounds of the Stola do Brasil a souvenir photo of the first 25 employees
hired by Gerente Newton Garzon.

May 1998 the plant is in the finishing phase and the Stola do Brasil brand is applied to paint

Early July 1998Early July 1998

Early July 1998

At the end of July 1998 the Stola do Brasil plant was completed. At the bottom of the image on the right you can still see some available land; in 2001 a final extension of 20,000 covered square meters will be carried out.

Less than ten months after the beginning of the construction / plant engineering works, and the start of the design and production equipment installation for the 178-A picks, on 3 August 1998 Roberto Stola ,Carlo Alecci and Carlo Biassoni flew, in a MD11 of the Varig company of Brazil, to attend the production start-up of the plant.
They were welcomed to Stola do Brasil by Newton Garzon, Guido Maina, Alvaro Puglisi and Enrico Negri to assist in the assembly of the first 50 chassis which were then be bodied in the following week.

From the left we recognize Fernando Vittorio, Roberto Stola, Guido Maina, Alvaro Pugliesi, Newton Garzon, Carlo Alecci and Carlo Biassoni.

From the left you can recognize X, Y, Z, Alvaro Puglisi, Newton Garzon, Carlo Biassoni, Carlo Alecci, Roberto Stola, Enrico Negri and W

From left Roberto Stola, Newton Grarzon, Carlo Alecci, Guido Maina, Carlo Biassoni.

July / August 1998. One of the three press lines in operation.

July / August 1998. Press operators at work.

Roberto Stola, Newton Garzon, Carlo Alecci, Fernando Vittori, Alvaro Puglisi, Guido Maina and Carlo Biassoni.

August 3, 1998. In these 5 photographs the various stages of assembly of the chassis.

July / August 1998. In the test room of the Stola do Brasil each chassis is checked
under the DEA measuring machine.

3 August 1998 at the brand new Stola do Brasil plant on the occasion of the visit of the Stola s.p.a. Carlo Alecci, Carlo Biassoni accompanied by Roberto Stola admire the first 50 chassis of the Fiat Palio 178-A Strada. The bodies will be assembled on the frames the following week considering this production start.

August 10, 1998 the body assembly phase on the chassis.

Here are the vehicles adapted for the Just In Time transport of raw bodies and sheet metal sub-assemblies from
Stola do Brasil to FIASA.

1998 Poster specially created to tell the Fiat Automovei s.a. partnerchip. and Stola do BrasilThe satisfaction of the management of Stola s.p.a., Sat s.p.a and Stola do Brasil was due to a sense of liberating victory, they were comforted by the strong appreciation of the Fiasa and Fiat Auto management and their respective CEOs, engineers Gianni Razelli and Paolo Cantarella.
In view of the target reached, Fiasa and Stola do Brasil organized the official inauguration on 29th September chaired by Roberto Stola and Carlo Alecci for Stola s.p.a. and Gianni Razelli and Jonas Carvalho for Fiasa.
The most important local entrepreneurs and city authorities of Belo Horizonte and the state of Minas Gerais were present at the event.

Belo Horizonte 29 September 1998 the official speech of the A.D. by Fiasa Giovanni Battista Razelli.Roberto Stola president of Stola s.p.a. assisted by the interpreter Barbara Scarrone.

Belo Horizonte 29 September an audience of about 250 people is present at the official inauguration of the Stola do Brasil.

Roberto Stola and Giovanni Battista Razelli discover a commemorative plaque of the event.Roberto Stola and Giovanni Battista Razelli pose with the commemorative plaque of the event.

Belo Horizonte 29 September 1998 the moment of the ribbon cutting for the official inauguration.

September 29, 1998 after the ribbon cutting, the public begins to visit the Stola do Brasil.September 29, 1998 after the ribbon cutting, the public begins to visit the Stola do Brasil.

29 September 1998 Engineer Giovanni Razelli, Biba Amodei, Roberto Stola and engineer Carlo Alecci

Genta, C. Alecci, R. Stola, G. Brusa and SquazziniJonas Carvalho and Roberto Stola

Before the official lunch inside the Stola do Brasil factory Giovanni Battista Razelli A.D. of Fiasa talks with Roberto Stola.

29 September 1998 at the Stola do Brasil factory, on the occasion of the official inauguration, some technicians pose proudly with the two Palio Strada-type pick-ups. Obviously, the painting and assembly took place inside the Fiasa plant in Betim. For the occasion, the Fiat executives wanted to bring the two finished decks.

October 1998 in conjunction with the official presentation of the Strada pick-ups, the magazine "MundoFiat outubro 98" tells the story of the Stola do Brasil with an article and various photographs.

On 24 October 1998 at the São Paulo motor show, the two Palio Strada pickups were be presented as world premier, and the start of the actual sale was announced as the end of November as planned from the beginning, thus reaching the established goal.

October 24, 1998 Here are the first two official photos of the two Palio Strada type pick-ups in short cab and long cab version.

August 2002 in Stola do Brasil, the rough bodies of the Fiat Strada restailng 178-2 pick-ups are assembled in both versions, short cab and long cab.

Dicembre 1999 Cav. Guido Maina
(Stola do Brasil)In January 1999, Superintendent Newton Garzon left the company, his position taken by the Guido Maina who, for personal reasons immediately informed Roberto Stola that the commitment would be time limited.
In November 1999, Fiat Auto asked Stola s.p.a to design the restyling of the first series of Palio currently in production. The target was to start marketing the new versions from the beginning of autumn 2001; it wouldbe known by design code Type 178-2
The versions were the classic hatchback, the Weekend station wagon, the Siena hatchback and the Strada double cab pickup.
The design was by Giugiaro, and the restyled parts included the two bumpers,bonnet and front fenders, the tailgate, all the light units and a part of the interior introducing airbags and an automatic gearbox.

 
Turin December 1999 the official presentation of the two-volume version of the Palio 178-2 style model created by Italdesign.

Turin December 1999 the official presentation of the style model of the Palio 178-2 in the weekend station wagon version made by Italdesign.

Turin December 1999 the official presentation of the 178-2 style model in three-volume version called Siena made by Italdesign.

January 2000 Ing. Gianni Coda (CEO FIASA)The technical development work of the Type 178-2 was carried out in Rivoli at "Platform 178", the Project Manager for Stola was Engineer Andrea Giovannelli under the direction of Bustreo, who dealt directly with the Engineers for almost two years of Fiat, Sburlati, Delfino and Demaria. Giovannelli's task, with his Italian team, was to coordinate the design variants of all these versions of Type 178-2 according to the different countries in the world where they were built.
In January 2000, Fiat Auto in Turin entrusted the position of CEO of Fiasa to Engineer Gianni Coda, manager of the Group Fiat Ferroviaria.

Rivoli 2000 Technical drawings relating to the 178-2 Strada. In particular the bumper is a proposal for a special version. In those years the boards had the Stola do Brasil logo as the Stola Engineering do Brasil had not yet been founded, and they were written in Portuguese.

Rivoli 2000 the assembly master of the Siena 178-2 under construction at the Stola model shop.

On 13 June 2000, during the Turin Motor Show, Alfredo Stola learned that he would have to represent his Uncle Roberto in a meeting with the CEO of Fiasa in Brazil.
The important appointment scheduled for mid-May was to discuss the thorny problem that arose three months earlier due to the high cost of sheet steel used in Stola do Brasil at a volume of around three thousand tons per month.

Turin June 2000, the S81 opening door model at the Stola s.p.a. stand, you can see on the right, beyond the column, the raw body of the Fiat Strada pickup produced in Stola do Brasil.

Turin June 2000, Turin Motor Show, Stola stand. The two raw bodies, short cab and long cab, of the Fiat Strada pick-ups produced in Stola do Brasil are exhibited.

14 giugno 2000. Volo Malpensa - San PaoloBoth Roberto Stola and Engineer Carlo Alecci cannot wait for this important appointment even in the medium term due to health problems, and so Doctor Biassoni will ask Alfredo to leave as soon as possible for Belo Horizonte.
The meeting with Engineer Gianni Coda will take place in his office in Betim on the morning of June 15, and the discussion for the prices of raw materials will focus on finding an agreement with the Usiminas steel mills, a Fiasa approved supplier.
It was a difficult meeting as Alfredo had never been involved in the construction and management of Stola do Brasil, and the losses generated monthly by the raw material were enormous.
In the end, a sufficiently satisfactory agreement for both parties was found at the end of the meeting.
Once the Superintendent Cavalier Maina has been personally informed and Doctor Biassoni has been reached on the phone in Rivoli, Alfredo left for Italy on an afternoon flight; it was his first trip ever to South America.

June 15, 2000 Belo Horizonte. Alfredo Stola documents the journey by car between the Ouro Minas hotel and the Stola do Brasil in amazement, noting the numerous road signs posted by the municipality of Belo Horizonte to reach the Stola ...

June 15, 2000. Alfredo Stola is given an office to prepare for the meeting that will take place the following day with the CEO of Fiasa, Ing. Gianni Coda. He will be helped in this preparation by Cav. Guido Maina, Enrico Negri and Dr. Carlo Biassoni on the phone from Turin.

September 2000 Dr. Franco Stola (Stola do Brasil).In September 2000, as previously planned. Cav. Guido Maina, left his position to Doctor Franco Stola who became the new Superintendent.
Franco was Roberto Stola's first cousin as their respective grandfathers were brothers.Having managerial experience between the United States and Italy gained in the companies Teksid, ITT and ABB, made us think of him as a choice.
In the meantime, the production of both versions of the Strada pick-ups, went ahead at maximum capacity with about 200 bodies delivered per day " just in time" to the Fiasa plant in Betim, through the use of dozens of trucks set up as car transporters departing from the Stola do Brasil every 15 minutes.
Even the moulding and assembly of many subgroups for the normal type Palio first series 178-A in various versions were produced, transported and delivered in the same way; among the most significant units were the complete engine compartment, the doors, the hatches, and the internal wheel arches.

September 2000 Belo Horizonte at the Stola do Brasil: a souvenir photo, for the greeting (which will later be a goodbye) of Cav. Guido Maina in the center of the photo standing Celio De Castro on the left Franco Stola and on the right Enrico Negri.

2000 San Paolo airport. Paolo Zerbini and Carlo Carena are the designers of Stola s.p.a. who will be the first to put their feet on Brazilian soil.Stola s.p.a. were requested to provide technical assistance on Palio 178-2 re-styling at the end of 2000 at the FIASA factory, and so Engineer Giovannelli together with Team Leaders Carlo Carena, Paolo Zerbini and other colleagues oversaw the work over many months directly inside the Betim plant through until autumn 2001.
At that time, additional unforeseen design resources were also requested to assist "Fiat Auto Argentina" in starting production of the Siena 178-2 three-volume version.
Carlo Carena took care of it with a long trip to Cordoba working in collaboration with the Argentine technicians of Fiat.

October 2000 Belo Horizonte. Pierangelo Bergamasco project leader of the Strada pikup together with Paolo Zerbini to verify the technical progress of the pick up projects in view of special editions and the future restyling.

Argentina 2000. Carlo Carena is a Team Leader designer of Stola s.p.a. on business trip to South America. In these two photographs he poses in front of the Fiat factories and in the center of Buenos Aires.

Fiat Siena (178-2) built in Argentina.

In October 2001, in the Fiasa plant, two years after the start of design activities carried out principaly in the technical offices of Stola in Rivoli, the production of the restyled Palio 178-2 gradually began in all it's four versions.

From October 2001 the Palio 178-2 in 2 volumes, weekend and Siena versions went into production. The restyled Strada pickup will go into production in the fall of 2002. All of these four vehicles of the Palio family were designed in Stola s.p.a .; the style is by Italdesign.

This moment coincided with the change to the Technical Management of the Fiat Palio platform, the position of Engineer Luigi Sburlati, having reached retirement age, was taken over by Engineer Piero Grillo, former Fiasa man in charge of purchasing.
The production start-up of the 178-2 made the Fiasa management decide that for logistical reasons it is more convenient to move the small assembly line of the Fiat Fiorino raw bodies to make internal workflows more efficient; Stola do Brasil came to mind.
For the Stola company it is an unexpected and great opportunity, it is well known that this commercial vehicle sold also in Europe having a production rate of about 70/100 units per day wass too small for Fiasa but perfect for the Stola do Brasil.

October 2001 Stola do Brasil: production of the Fiat Fiorino raw body begins on the same assembly line as the pick-ups.

Stola do Brasil each raw shell and each assembled subgroup is loaded every 15/20 minutes day and night for the nearby FIASA plant in Betim.

A few months after the start of production of the Fiorino bodies, came another great but unexpected request to Stola do Brasil; to include new production of raw bodies for the Fiat Doblò in the Strada pick-up lines.
With a forecast of 170 units per day, this order would lead to near capacity production for the plant, taking into account the further stamping and sub- assemblies.
As for the pick-ups and all the Palio versions, the logistics of the raw bodies of the Fiorino and Doblò also used a just-in-time delivery technique using car transporter trucks.
At the Rivoli headquarters, six months before the Palio 178-2 went on sale, evidently urged by the Fiat / Fiasa management, it was decided to speed up the start-up of the design office inside the Stola do Brasil as had been requested at the beginning.
On April 18, 2001, on the occasion of the usual scheduled trip to Belo Horizonte, Roberto Stola accompanied by Engineer Alecci, Dr. Biassoni and Engineer Carpegna, had "Stola Engineering do Brasil" on his agenda.
Gottardo Bustreo and Carlo Biassoni asked Roberto Arpini from the Stola design office in Cinisello Balsamo to anticipate his presence in Brazil by a week to better organize the important meeting on site.
The necessity for this on the part of Fiasa was the imminent start of engineering work for the complete future range of the new Type 178-3 family in numerous versions which was to begin sale at the end of 2003.
Franco Stola and Guido Maina meet again at Stola Engineering do Brasil in the summer of 2001.The construction of a technical office building was thus established within the same area Stola do Brasil.
The company "Stola Engineering do Brasil" was born, 100% owned by Stola do Brasil and technically directed by Roberto Arpini. Superintendent was Cavalier Guido Maina, who back on the scene having been freed up from the personal commitments that had held him back for a year and a half.

September 2001 Roberto Arpini at his post in the new office.

 September 2001 at the office of Stola Engineering do Brasil, still under construction, with the first group of Brazilian designers. From the left we can recognize Luis, X, Fernanda, Arpini, Faria, Y and Raul.

January 2002 Stola Engineering do Brasil, the group of designers with Carlo Carena and Roberto Arpini at the center.

2001 Pasquale Papalia (Stola Engineering do Brasil) project leader of the entire Palio 178/3 series.For this immense project, the Fiat Palio 178-3 in hatchback, station Wagon, sedan and pick-up short and long cab versions the task of Project Manager was give to Engineer Pasquale Papalia with a delegation also in Italy from Stola s.p.a.
A job training course was immediately set up in collaboration with Isvor Brazil, which would also be responsible for finding young graduates from technical schools in Belo Hotizonte.
The building was inaugurated in October 2001, and the staff of Stola s.p.a. in permanent transfer, as well as Arpini ,Papalia, and Salvatore Tuvà, was made up of Carlo Carena, Andrea Giovannelli Paola Busato, Paolo Zerbini, Alessandro D'Apuzzo, Gianluca Guarnaschelli, Alberto Mancini, Fulvio Bracco, Denis Pace, Roberta Passione, Alessandro De Zanni, Gianluca Monfrino, Giuseppe Papalia, Alessio Fucci, Potito Gagliardi, Italo Paganotto, Mariateresa Savatteri, Laura Faccenda, Silvia Vittone, Giorgio Negro, Stefano Marchio, Alberto Ferranti, Massimiliano Cudia, Roberta Passione and Federico Croci.

September 2001 The building that houses the Stola Engineering do Brasil is finished.December 2001 The interior of one of the technical offices of Stola Engineering do Brasil.

In advance,Celio de Castro, personnel director of Stola do Brasil organized the best welcome for them, and to make the distance less uncomfortable, about twenty apartments were rented in the Savassi residence in Rua Alagoas 581 in the center of Belo Horizzonte.
A modern and well equipped accommodation with concierge, security service, laundry, swimming pool and volleyball court, with the convenience of being only 200 meters from a shopping center.
Not least it had the advantage of being able to reach the technical officeby car in twenty minutes and the Fiasa plant in 45.

The Address Savassi residence in Rua Alagoas 581 in the center of Belo Horizzonte is available to Stola staff on the road.

For the Directors and managers of the Stola s.p.a and Sat spa. De Castro selected an exclusive hotel in the center of Belo Horizonte called “Ouro Minas” by negotiating a very convenient corporate rate.

The exclusive “Ouro Minas” hotel in Belo Horizonte.

The Stola Engineering do Brasil team interfaced with the Fiasa / Fiat men directed by the Engineer Piero Grillo: Claudio Demaria, Ugo Delfino, Aroldo Borges, Marcio Tonani, Carlos Augustos, Alexandre Abreu, Leonardo Quadros, Robson Cotta , Gianni Gramiglia, Marco Limoncelli, Flavio Penna, Giovanni Biolatti, Claudio Pagliero, and Saglietti Piero, Giuseppe di Stasi, Giuseppe Marinaro, Piero Benedetto and Bruno Pastorelli.
The engineering works of the 178-3 began in December 2001, with the target of starting series production in Brazil in November 2003, following gradually in the other plants around the world.

Belo Horizonte 2000. Engineering studies related to the 178-3 series front strut. Details of maximum safety. These works include structural calculations done digitally.

Company newspaper of the Stola do Brasil n ° 05 Jan / Feb / Mar 2002.
Quarterly this publication was distributed to all the employees of the company. In this issue we will speak in particular of the technical office of Stola Engineering do Brasil with a long interview with Roberto Arpini.

The work in the new building of Stola Engineering do Brasil was for the most part carried out using Catia 4 software for the design and Codep for the Bill of Material.
In order to carry out this immense work on the 178-3 and considering the many versions (2 Volumes, Sedan, Station Wagon, and Pick Up short and long cab), another 50 Brazilian design engineers were hired to support the Italian team.

Belo Horizonte early 2003. Images relating to the design of the front bumper of the 178-3 series.Belo Horizonte early 2003. Images relating to the design of the front bumper of the 178-3 series.

Belo Horizonte early 2003. Images relating to the design of the 178-3 series tailgate.

Pasquale Papalia from Belo Horizonte together with Salvatore Tuvà in coordination with the technicians of the Stola headquarters in Rivoli required that various activities had to be performed directly in Italy, such as the development of mathematical surfaces, master models, assembly masters and the first prototypes.
This is partly due to the fact that the design of all these different variants of the Fiat Palio Tipo 178-3 were the fruit of Italdesign's work, and the visits to Rivoli by Giorgetto and Fabrizio Giugiaro and their collaborators for the various approvals in virtual room and in the modeling shop were frequent.
In fact, Massimo Stola assisted by Carlo Mantovani, worked in agreement with the Giugiaro family, to develop the best possible mathematical surfaces, which were then verified on the CNC milled master models, also in Stola, under the supervision of the foreman Vittorio della Rocca and assisted by Giorgio Braghin.
The assembly masters and the first series of prototypes will be managed respectively by Dr. Tiziano Novo, and Gigi Gallina together with Giorgio Gariglio.

Rivoli end of 2002: in Stola, under the DEA tracker, the assembly of the Fiat Palio 178-3 interior assembly master is carried out. John the Great, Danilo Franchino, Leonardo Canavesi and Carmelo Saitta are recognized.

At the end of 2002, Engineer Piero Grillo swapped with Engineer Diego Avesani, manager of the Fiat Technical Department in Turin, as the director of the "Fiat 178 platform".

November 2002 Paolo Zerbini of Stola Engineering do Brasil, in a souvenir photo inside the Fiasa plant in Betim.

Early 2003 some images at the Palio production pilot plant inside the Fiasa. From the left we can recognize the engineer Ugo Delfino della Fiasa and Paolo Zerbini together with Abruzzese.

In the summer of 2003 Giorgetto Giugiaro was a special guest at the OCA art museum in the city of Sao Paulo, together with the entire Fiasa \ Fiat management, suppliers and political authorities, they presented the new third series of the Palio family at a world premiere.
It became such success that after the San Paolo show held in October 2003, a commission of specialized journalists went on to award this latest new Fiat Palio series the prestigious "Car of the Year 2004 South America" award.

At the end of summer 2003 the brand new Palio 178-3 goes into production in the two-volume, weekend and Siena three-volume versions. These three vehicles of the Palio family were designed in Brazil at the technical office of Stola Engineering do Brasil. The style is by Italdesign.

In October 2003, coinciding with the entry into production of the Type 178-3, Roberto Arpini passed on the baton of technical direction for Stola Engineering do Brasil to the engineer Pasquale Papaliia assisted by Salvatore Tuvè.
Arpini returned to the Stola technical office in Cinisello Balsamo to work on the Ferrari 599 GTB Type 141 project.

Betim November 2003 Fiat recreational center. We recognize Arpini, Carena, Passione, Negro, Touvè, Pastorelli, Arpini, Negri, Pacheco, Patricia, Joseli, Celio De Castro, Arlindo and Facchin.

The director of Stola Engineering do Brasil Roberto Arpini personally offers a lunch to the entire team of designers for his definitive return to Italy.

The Brazilian version of the Fiat Idea that went into production in 2005 at the Fiasa plant was a car engineered by Stola Engineering do Brasil.
The premise of this choice by Fiasa was that at the end of 2001 Stola s.p.a. had just delivered to the Technical Management of Fiat Auto, all the engineering work for the new small minivan called Idea for the European market.
It was Engineer Papalia who coordinated every activity between Belo Horizonte and Rivoli for over a year, reporting directly to Engineer Alexandre Serretti of Fiasa.

2002 - 2003 in Stola Engineering do Brasil, in parallel with the Stola of Rivoli and the Tecnocars of Turin, the Fiat Idea is reengineered on the chassis of the 178-3. In particular, the mathematical surfaces are developed in Rivoli by the team of Massimo Stola and Carlo Mantovani.

2002 - 2003 in Stola Engineering do Brasil, in parallel with the Stola of Rivoli and the Tecnocars of Turin, the Fiat Idea is reengineered on the chassis of the 178-3.

Belo Horizonte December 23, 2003. The Christmas Party at the Stola do Brasil inaugurated by Enrico Negri.

Belo Horizonte 23 December 2003. Inside the Stola do Brasil factory in an area created specifically for the staff's Christmas party (the technical equipment of the assembly line can be seen at the top of the photo). From left: Bruno Pastorelli, Savatore Tuve and Pasquale Papalia.

2003 Engine layout checks and simulated crash tests on the BMPV Idea project.2003 Engine layout checks and simulated crash tests on the BMPV Idea project.

The difficulty of this project was that the production needs in terms of synergies and costs meant that the bodywork, the relative structures of the Fiat Idea in the European version would have to be assembled on the chassis of the Palio Tipo 178-3 which would also include the mechanics and dashboard.
The final development work began at the end of 2002 and went on until summer of 2004, carried out entirely at Stola Engineering do Brasil.

The young engineers of Stola s.p.a volunteered to transfer for 3 years from Rivoli / Cinisello Balsamo to Belo Horizonte and had the opportunity to live an extraordinary work and life experience.

2002 Belo Horizonte airport, every three months the boys from the Stola return home for a very short period. We recognize Roberta Passione, Giorgio Negro, Alessio Pucci, Carlo Carena and Denis Pace.

A special team spirit was born between them, not only in work but also in a happy conviviality, sharing the residences, spending the weekends and local holidays together .
The exceptional "mineira" cuisine and the best known "churrasco brasileiro" with the very light Antarctica and Brahma beers, the energizing guarana for abstainers, suited occasion for numerous dinners with friends.

December 2001 at Roberto Arpini's home in rua Alagoas 581 Belo Horizonte. We recognize Giorgio Negro, X, Denis Pace, Alessio Fucci, Carlo Carena and Roberto Arpini.

Rio de Janeiro late 2001. During the carnival holidays Paolo Zerbini and Carlo Carena discover Rio de Jneiro.

2002 Porto Seguro in a weekend Denis Pace, Alessio Fucci, Carlo Carena and Roberto Arpini.2002 Ouro Petro In a weekend Carlo Carena
and Paolo Zerbini

We recognize Franco Stola, Giorgio Gariglio, Enrico Negri, Pasquale Papalia, Celio De Castro, Giancarlo Zago
and Matteo Carano.Ugo Delfino with his wife Raquel and in the middle
Paolo Zerbini

2002 at the Minas football stadium in Belo Horizonte. We recognize Ugo Delfino, Flavio Penna, Raquel, X, Y and Paola Busato.

2002 Paola Busato, Marco Limoncelli, Piero Benedetto, X, Y and Flavio Penna.

Belo Horizonte 2002. X, Y, Cinthia, Paolo Zerbini, Ugo Delfino, Raquel, Andrea Giovannelli, Z and W.

Brazil is also a country famous for the friendliness of girls, and some of the young designers even found love, going on to be married.

2000, Belo Horizonte. Paolo Zerbini with his girlfriend Cinthia

2000, Belo Horizonte. A special dinner in which Paolo Zerbini will ask for Cinthia's hand from his father.

For the Stola Family, this six-year South American experience was undoubtedly the most complex undertaking in terms of human energy, technical intelligence and financial commitment.
Millions of sheet metal parts have been printed, hundreds of thousands of sub-assemblies welded and tens of thousands of raw car bodies delivered just in time.
A new plant of 100,000 square meters staffed with a workforce of 1,200 people divided into three shifts, all from a green field site,the numbers following the last expansion in 2001 tell of an industrial vision created by the stubborn will of Roberto Stola.
For the commitment to the limit of physical endurance on the part of the closest collaborators Carlo Alecci, Carlo Biassoni, Marco Goffi and Gottardo Bustreo, an immense thanks to them from the Stola family.
Thanks to the resident Superintendents Newton Garzon and Guido Maina for the extraordinary work done together, and to all managers Enrico Negri, Celio De Castro, Giuseppe Facchin, Arturo Vidal, Giancarlo Zago, Pauline Wooley and Marcus Pacheco.
Roberto StolaFranco Stola was the last Superintendent of the Stola do Brasil to work "directly" for Roberto and Alfredo; a special thanks to him from the family to which he belongs.
A thought also goes to the men of the Fiat / Fiasa management who in these seven years were colleagues on the project, including Paolo Cantarella, Gianni Razelli, Luigi Sburlati, Jonas Carvalho, Piero Grillo, Gianni Coda, Tommaso Le Pera, Appio Aguiari, Ugo Delfino , Claudio Demaria, Diego Avesani and Alexandre Serretti.
Roberto Stola became aware of his illness as early as April 1999 during one of the usual monthly trips to Belo Horizonte accompanied that time by Carlo Alecci.
In spite of everything, aided by supportive care, his active commitment to this enterprise would never fail until the summer of 2002.
On 26 July 2004 the Stola family sold the shares of Stola s.p.a. which also include 100% of those of its own companies: Stola do Brasil, Tecnocars and Estival.
The buyers,“Global Industriale”, a group of Italian entrepreneurs operating in the automotive sector.