Fiat in 2020

Fiat in 2020

Fiat have launched a two month competition which includes 60 past graduate vehicle design students at the Royal College of Art to design 2020 versions of the Fiat 500 and Panda models.

The top designers at Fiat have set a target for the vehicle design students to produce innovative and out of the box concept designs of the two models. The students will be working in teams of four and will have a total of seven teams designing each model.

Fiat want the students to come up with both fresh and unexpected designs that will also implement the firms values as well as product identities. The concepts also have to be both practical and workable and will not include anything like a microwave fitted on to the model.

Joking aside, the competition has lots credentials and opportunities as the winners get to spend four days at Fiat's Centro Stile in Turin and then help realise the designs as scale models. The winners will also be offered a 6 month internship at the Centro stile.

Fiat design bosses admit that they have struggles to face when designing the third generation of the new 500 model and the fourth generation of the Panda. The winners may not design the final car but they may well come up with a concept that might be implemented on future Fiat models.

The current Fiat 500 model has been reaping the rewards as the car market within the UK continues to grow and sales keep rising. September has been a record breaking month of sales within the UK as the car market has sold over 400,000 models for the first time since 2008.

In contrast, the rest of the European car market has continued to suffer with the Italian in particular losing out. Due to the dependency on home grown sales, Fiat have suffered as the Italian car market and the demand has completely disappeared. We at Gap 123 have kept you updated on the plans Fiat have in terms of returning to profitable ways. Fiat have made plans for the Alfa Romeo brand to expand and target the growing economy of the US.