FEBRUARY 1998

In the first months of 1998, Director of the Alfa Romeo Style Center ,Walter De Silva involved Stola s.p.a. in the construction of a model for a Alfa 156 station wagon.
At the first presentation the management of Fiat Auto was not enthusiastic, however, an insistent Marketing Director, Giuseppe Perlo, was able to convince the top management to include this intriguing variant of the 156 sedan in the product range.
The project code was 932 AF and its proposed name was Powerwagon, later changed to 156 Sportwagon.
Following this decision, the Fiat Auto Technical Department immediately entrusted the bodywork and interior finishes engineering including structural calculations to Stola s.p.a.

Clearances and tolerances diagram of the Alfa Romeo 932 AF project.

Alfa Romeo 932 project table.The Stola technical team was practically the same as that which had previously developed the 156 Sedan for production, consequently the work would take place between the offices of Cinisello Balsamo and Rivoli, under the direction of Gottardo Bustreo, flanked for the management part by Carlo Biassoni .
From the outset, before the milling of the style model, the Surfacing Team directed by Carlo Mantovani, worked with the designers of the Arese Style Center using the Icem-Surf software, initially for the C class and then later for the A .
Among the design team leaders were Di Benedetto, Depetri, Carena, Maffei, Mollo, Bonafede, Poggio and Di Nunno.
Like the sedan, the Sportwagon was developed on Computervision Cadds 5, with Optegra used as the archiving system for Fiat, managed by Paola Busato.
With a view to technological innovation, the tailgate was developed on Parametric Technology’s Pro-Engineer , using the parametric methodology for the first time.
The structural calculations were, more than ever, essential to transform a sedan into a station wagon. They were carried out by the La Rosa Team from the Cinisello Balsamo headquarters using the Nastran, Abacus and Radioss systems; as always, software and hardware were managed by Gianfranco Morlacchi.

From the reliefs of the rear part of the style model of the 932 AF, the studies of the tailgate both of the exterior and of its frame.

The development of the mathematics of the 932AF began starting from the same saloon version already made in Stola s.p.a. in 1995.

In that period, given the large number of projects under development within Fiat Auto, M.D. Paolo Cantarella, aware of the fact that Roberto Stola personally owned several companies in the sectors of design, construction of production means such as molds and assembly lines, sheet metal forming and assembly of sub-groups, asked him for something extra.
The 156 Sportwagon, which was a derivative of the sedan, would have to be assembled and finished on the same line in the Fiat plant in Pomigliano d'Arco, therefore, an extremely interesting opportunity presented itself for Roberto Stola, as his companies were also located in Pomigliano d 'Arco, in the province of Naples
The companies in question were Stola Sud, Stampitre and Tecnostampi, based respectively in Pomigliano D'Arco and Avellino, and Sat in Beinasco , Turin.
For Fiat Auto, Stola s.p.a. could provide complete product engineering from mathematical surface development, style and master model and finally cubing.

Complete diagram of the sheet metal details of the 932 AF derived in part from the sedan. Highlighted in orange you can see the freshmen that Sat will have to design and build the molds for production.

Sat: milling of the tailgate moldSat: one of the mold matrices of the tailgate.

Sat: test molds under press.Sat: dimensional control of the printed part.

Sat: computer simulation of the interaction between robot and man in the assembly and welding operations of the subgroups.

Sat: assembly and welding project of sheet metal subgroups.

Sat: assembly and welding project of sheet metal subgroups.

Stampitre: the two transfer molding lines for the production of sheet metal.Stampitre: the two transfer molding lines for the production of sheet metal.

Stolasud: two images of the assembly and testing of the parts before being delivered to the assembly line..

An official photo of the 156 Sportwagon.Sat were commissioned directly by Fiat Auto to design and manufacture the moulds and assembly lines for all the specific sheet metal parts, while Tecnostampi would offer support for those same moulds.
Stola Sud, with the collaboration of the Stampitre, were commissioned by Fiat Auto for the subassembly molding and lamination activities with just in time delivery at the assembly line.
There was an ambitious target of 20 months for getting the Sportwagon into production.
With the enormous customer expectation, Roberto Stola dedicated his energy and personal support to the project’s executives, Carlo Alecci, Gottardo Bustreo, Carlo Biassoni and Marco Goffi.
Goffi in particular, managed all the processes for the construction of the production equipment, and then the actual production itself with constant transfers to southern Italy through until 2005.
The Sportwagon was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in 2000, enjoying considerable success, partly due to its name, being the first in the automotive world whose meaning evoked sportiness in a family car.
During its production life, a high proportion were Sportwagons, approximately 70% of volume, an indication of the achievement attained.

2000 The Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon goes into production at the Pomigliano d'Arco plant.

June 2000 Turin. On the occasion of the Turin motor show, at the Stola s.p.a. in addition to the S81 Show Car, the body of the Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon is on display.