Nestled away down an unassuming side street that splinters away from Via Tortona is a small studio doing big things. We first saw GAC’s Milan studio around 18 months ago and although an additional part of the building has been finished – primarily as a CMF suite but outfitted with student work on our visit in April – it has remained largely untouched. The same could be said for the team, which has expanded, but not by much.

True to his word, Stephane Janin has kept things compact since taking the reins of the studio and has no plan to start supersizing the operation. The OEM already has a huge mothership in China; this outpost is about being nimble, ultra-creative and slashing the time between thinking and doing. 

Already on part three, the team’s Car Culture series of concept vehicles was created to celebrate the conventional tropes of car design but also to look forward – evidenced in the Barchetta concept, for example, which drew inspiration from classic sports cars but with a super modern twist.

“We are exploring car culture because we want to do futuristic stuff while taking into account the past, and…