Designer Interview: Roberto Giolito on the Fiat 500L (2012)

It seems that wherever Mini goes, Fiat’s style icon, the 500, can follow. So it came as little surprise when Fiat launched its third derivative of the 500 at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. Designed to rival the Opel Meriva and Citroën’s C3 Picasso, the 500L marries both 500 and Panda design cues in a B-segment MPV format.

At the show the car received a mixed reaction, so we took the opportunity to catch up with the man credited with both the reborn 500 and the influencial Multipla of 1998 - Roberto Giolito, Head of Design for Fiat - to understand a little more of the background to this project and where the brand intends to take its famous nameplate next.

Car Design News Where did the project start?

Roberto Giolito It’s interesting to spark the attention of people regarding the composition of the 500L. It’s not a composition in terms of a car made from different parts; it’s organic. We wanted a very simple looking design, a design made by stages. So below the belt-line we have the protected body. Above it, what we call the pergola - like when you have dinner in Italy. Part of the seamless-ness comes from the floating roof with an unusually big skydome - there’s no crossmember to break it up inside.

So in this way, it’s reminiscent of the marvelous 1956 Dante Giacosa 600 Multipla, the one with the water-drop line. The idea was to get a space-efficient volume from inside to out, enlarging the cockpit and the greenhouse and getting a very short hood.

We originally had in mind to have a real mono-volume car. We were thinking about the Buckminster Fuller Dymaxion or something belonging more to ‘the architect’s dream’ of creating cars like spaces.

CDN The 600 Multipla had that quality too. How did you end up with a two-box form?

RG Yes, the two box was in part the explanation of the architecture of the car - its front engine position, etc. But the cab-forward feeling comes from a composition of three pieces of glass with the angular [front quarter lights] and the windshield. When you connect to things like the C3 Picasso you’re right. So we optimized something that’s on trend with a similar visibility thanks to a nice piece of polycarbonate in the third window.

This car is quite a champion in aerodynamic performance because you couldn’t say this is an optimal shape for the wind tunnel. But we found some good details - not added parts - but shapes and forms such as the fenders and wheel coverings, just using computational modeling to improve things. This is an interesting experience for designers, just to test where optimization is good value to reduce coefficient.

CDN What’s the drag co-efficient and how did you balance that with the need to optimize space?

RG This has a Cd of 0.33, which is pretty good for a MPV. We are now using 0.28 as our coefficient target for hatchbacks. The fuel consumption is very good - starting with the TwinAir, two-cylinder engine - but the engine is not so evident in this car. The shape is not placing the engine as the most important aspect of it. But it’s a car that is really highlighting the attitude of Fiat, to create a good liveable space inside.

There’s a certain ‘wellness’ feeling inside. With the guys across my team, like Florian Seidl and Virgilio [Fernàndez Hernàndez] - the Spanish designer of the interior of the Panda - I’m really using the talent inside the studio to continue the story (from the Panda and 500). They are doing a great job interpreting the Italian philosophy of a simple car, prone to be generous, not aggressive. You have to see the sketches, they are very playful. Mr Marchionne enjoyed following this project.

These kind of projects are not the preferred ones of the young designers - they’d prefer to do spiders and so on - but I think this is the virgin land for designers. If you want to have a debut as a designer you should go for a car like this - MPV projects and hybrids.

CDN It’s interesting you mention the 500 and Panda. We can obviously see 500 in the graphics, but in the other elements it’s more Panda. Was it always intended to be branded as a 500?

RG This is a car in the Fiat range, which is composed of highlights such as the 500 and a new perspective from the brand, which is the Panda. That car is moving from slab surfaces to something that has more empathy and emotive response to the customer’s idea of details. So it’s exactly that mixture.

It’s called 500 but remember for us 500 is not some sub-line of products - it’s not the Mini for BMW. For us, 500 is the heart of the spirit of Fiat. So in the near future you will see an enlarging of the family. Not as 500, but 500-related products by Fiat.

And this is the key. Because it’s an MPV this is a car for young families so it’s good to have the 500 name, because it’s reminding people of that and also demonstrating a philosophy of drawing on the Italian expertise for the design of interiors.

CDN What platform does the 500L sit on?

RG It’s a new platform, which the next Punto will sit on. It’s 50mm longer, with more space from the cockpit to the axle. The important issue is the modularity for suspension attachments. This will enable us to have a real SUV. I’ve been told next year in Geneva there’ll be an empowering of the B-SUV segment and this is important because we have in our pockets some Fiat projects following the stream. It’s a stream where we’d like to have a personal interpretation, something unique.

CDN The B-SUV segment is growing a lot and is already huge in countries like Brazil. While the 500L is destined for America, presumably you have plans for it in markets such as Brazil and perhaps India too?

RG They will have a product differentiated in terms of different bodies. Opposite the 500L, you have the Jeep range. Jeep is watching the B-segment in Europe and we have plans for both Europe and South America. We believe that now we have the products to feed the European market with the more 500-oriented products and the South American markets with a Jeep derivation. And Jeep is going to produce a couple of interpretations on this B-chassis. It’s going to be very interesting for their communication of the brand.

CDN In Europe, who is the target customer for the 500L? You’ve said it’s for families but we’ve seen a lot of older market customers buying B-MPVs previously

RG The demand to have emotional, functional vehicles is very well expressed by this. It’s not an aggressive car. If you come from a sporty hatch, or a coupe and you have a new baby in your family, you need a car that is expressing the generous appeal of the product. This is probably a car that reflects you changing your disposition, your attitude.

I had my two sons during the launch of the Multipla and from a kids point of view that was amazing just to play in - it’s like a bedroom for kids. Michael Schumacher said it was amazing, bringing his two sons straight out of the front seat, just after jumping out of a Ferrari. That was incredible. We’re trying to get some of that spirit here.

CDN The 500 was launched in 2007 and at some point it will need updating. With ‘retro’ style that’s difficult, so where do you intend to go?

RG We are exploring different directions to take and testing them with the clinics. And we’re looking at the current image, because we were told in the market research that nobody can touch the 500! So it can be scary, there is a resistance - from the customer point of view - to changing the car.

But for designers in my team, they want to look into the future perspective. I am pushing for this latter direction, it’s absolutely the right direction to go. What you will see is that each new product within the 500 family will show a little more of the future direction we intend to take.

CDN How much is America driving the market research, is it a massive influence now?

RG It’s around fifty-fifty. It’s important - we are bringing the new models of the family there, even 500L was researched in the US - with very good results. It’s demonstrating that the 500 seed from the hatch version has created this popularity. So the market is primed to accept this, in terms of this interpretation, in the tinniest way in the MPV category. We’ve also introduced this idea of ‘drive small and live large’. Italian lifestyle is a very strong selling point in the US right now.