2000

The arrival of the year 2000 brought with it high expectations for the world of technology.
For STOLA s.p.a. in the field of car design, the area of 3D virtual Reality became of great interest.
The technical directors,Gottardo Bustreo, Gianfranco Morlacchi supported by Carlo Biassoni pushed Roberto Stola to reflect on the importance of a VR facility for engineering.
As in 1981, with the first cad cam systems and milling of numerically controlled models nineteen years later,a level of innovation was expected.
The continuous desire for car manufacturers to reduce "time to market" of a new model, the will to cut back on the number of prototypes for cost reasons whilst at the same time improving quality, meant a VR room was answer that they were looking for.
Gianfranco Morlacchi undertook several trips, sometimes accompanied by Carlo Mantovani, around Italy, Belgium as well as a special visit to Sindelfingen to the Mercedes technical center.
The final choice was to invest in a Barco BR-909 system with active steroscopic back projection on a 3 x 2.5meter screen.
The Stolas are so convinced, that together with the Engineer Alecci they will decide to buy two systems for the technical centers of Rivoli and Cinisello Balsamo, thus creating two twin virtual rooms that will be operated in November of the same year.

October 2000. The first virtual room of Stola s.p.a. in the Rivoli headquarters. It differs from that of Cinisello Balsamo for the garnet-colored column.

November 2000. The second virtual room of Stola s.p.a. at the Cinisello Balsamo headquarters. It differs from its twin in Rivoli for the white color of the column on the left of the photo.

In Rivoli, in the department for the development of aesthetic mathematical surfaces, it was necessary to have tools to increase the quality of visualisation and analysis of shapes.
In Cinisello Balsamo where the activity was mainly dedicated to the development of body, trim and chassis projects, a lot of computing power was required to manage the high level of the graphical data needed for digital mock-up and analysis techniques.
In the milestone year of 2000, at both locations the two virtual reality rooms were equiped with tools such as Silicon Graphics Octane Bi-Processor workstations complete with with on board Opticore software, and Sun SunBlade Bi-Processor with Catia software 4D Navigator and Unigraphics Vis Mockup.
STOLA s.p.a would share these new technologies,in particular with Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Ferrari, Maserati and the Same group.
Through these two virtual rooms, and the new analysis tools, customer relationships become more active and dynamic, thanks to the simultaneous sharing of technical solutions and possible improvements that could be applied in real time.
Work processes were changing and required even more internal and customer progress meetings.
Engine compartment layout, fuel systems, air conditioning, simulation of the assembly of external and internal finishes and mechanical and kinematic checks were just some of the activities carried out in partnerships between the Stola Team, the customer and the many specialist co-designers.

JANUARY 2000

In January 2000, Nissan's European style center asked the Stolas to create a concept to be presented at the next Paris Motor Show in October of the same year.
The design is by Stephane Schwarz, under the direction of Shiro Nakamura, and the Stola modelers will create only the style models of the interiors and exteriors in via Ferrero 9 in Rivoli.
Vittorio Della Rocca Head modeling workshop Stola s.p.a. and Flavio Secoli owner of F&SFor the construction of the prototype, as for the Smart cars, the Stola will ask for collaboration with the F&S of the Secoli Family in order to be able to create it in their laboratory always with a mixed team of modelers from the two companies, under the super vision of the technical managers of the Stola.
The painting activities will be carried out in Rivoli, in via Ferrero 9, at the Stola model shop.
The name of the Show Car is Fusion and from this lucky project will come several Nissan cars.

Rivoli June 2000 via Novara, Alfredo Stola with the Nissan team. X, A. Stola, S. Nakamura and S. Schwarz.

Year 2000, Stephane Schwarz's original Nissan Fusion design.

Rivoli via Novara July 2000. At the F&S laboratory the mixed Stola-Secoli team at work for the construction of the show car. We recognize the designers S. Schwarz and S. Nakamura.

Rivoli via Ferrero 9 September 2000. In Stol s.p.a. The Fusion show car on the second floor of the prototype department is assembled before painting which will always take place in the same department.

Turin end of September 2000 the official photos of the Fusion before being transported to the Paris motor show.

Paris October 2000. The Fusion on display at the Nissan stand.

JANUARY 2000

Year 2000, the drawings of the Lancia Ypsilon.

February 2000, part of the Lancia Team often present in Rivoli in Stola s.p.a. Maurizio Tocco, Giancarlo Concilio, Diego Vergnano, Adriano Piovano, Giovanni Ribotta, Serena Chionetti, Andrea Bassi, Stefano Bertolo, Massimo Gay, Marco Tencone and Roberto Corangio.Between January and June of the year 2000, the Lancia Style Center instructs STOLA s.p.a. to create two style model proposals for the future Ypsilon type.
An exterior see trough model in hard material, and an interior always in hard material. Mike Robinson is the Director, and the designers involved are Alberto Dilillo, Marco Tencone, Luciano Speranza, Giuseppe Bertolusso, Giancarlo Concilio, Adriano Piovano and Hernan Carambopolos.
When the Stolas see the mathematics of the surfaces, they immediately understand that the inspiration for style comes from the masterpiece of the Lancia Aprilia, whose habitability model was developed in 1934 in the Alfredo Stola laboratory in via Issiglio 38 in Turin.
For this reason, they make available a real Lancia Aprilia on display in the work box for the entire development time of the two style models.

Rivoli May 2000. La STOLA s.p.a. for the Lancia Style Center he created a proposal for an outdoor model.

Rivoli May 2000. La STOLA s.p.a. for the Lancia Style Center he created a proposal for a style model for interiors.

FERUARY 2000

In February 2000, the Alfa Romeo Styling Center directed by Walter De Silva, commissioned STOLA s.p.a. to create the styling models of the 156 GTA sedan and sportwagon versions.
It was a complex job for a very small budget and with an extraordinarily short time to market.

Order opening table for the GTA project.

The new parts, in addition to the new bumpers and the side skirts, included obviously enlarged front and rear wings.
Class C surfaces were supplied directly by the Arese Style Center and, after approval of the model by the management of Fiat Auto, they instructed Stola s.p.a. to carry out the complete engineering design.
Giuseppe Di NunnoGiuseppe Di Nunno, a graduate of the 1981/82 modelling course, was appointed project manager by Gottardo Bustreo.
For these two GTA versions, Stola started from standard production bodies going on to produce six prototypes whose final assembly, including the sophisticated mechanics, were carried out by Alfa Romeo themselves.
The two prototypes of the 156 GTA sedan and Sportwagon went on to have their world premiere at the Frankfurt Motor Show in early September 2001.

September 2001 Frankfurt the two 156 GTAs on the Alfa Romeo stand.

APRIL 2000

Rivoli April 200 A. Stola and Nobuyuki Ishihara shake hands after signing the contract.STOLA s.p.a. was already a model supplier for the Honda Style Centers in both Germany and Japan.In April 2000, an unusual job for the two-wheeler sector was started for the Honda Development Research Center in Rome.
It was complex work, a clay model was provided by the Centro Stile of Rome and from that a working prototype was require which would include particularly advanced prototype equipment.

Rivoli April 2000 Just signed the contracts in a souvenir photo. From left Tiziano Novo Tomoyuki Okura, Nobuyuki Ishihara, Alfredo Stola, Bruno Arienti, Carlo Mantovani and Gioachino Grande.

Along with the style model, the Lazio research centre supplied an example of the then current production Honda SH scooter, the Stola technicians used this as a basis to make all the necessary modifications.
Honda wanted a complete and dedicated team for this turnkey project and so it was that Tiziano Novo, Carlo Mantovani, Felice Chiara, Bruno Arienti, and Giochino Grande would manage the project, which was due to be completed at the end of December 2000.

The Honda team with whom the Stola's would work were Nobuyuki Ishihara, Director of the European R&D Center and his assistants Tomoyuki Okura, Ken Yamaguci, Yutaka Kawasaki, Gian Varlo Giliberti Calderon, and Angelo Coletta.
The work included Scanning, engineering, construction of models, molds and detailed assembly studies, all with the final objective of the prototype in mind.
Simultaneously the technicians of the Atessa Italian production plant would verify and check the work.