AUGUST 2020

On 12 August 2020, twin prototypes known by design codes Nice 1 and Nice 2, left from Rivoli. These acronyms were no coincidence, in fact they refer to the famous city of the Côte d'Azur designated as the start for the Tour de France.
France 2020. Photos of the Grenadier team between stages of the Tour de France. From left Egan Bernal, Michael Kwiatkowski, Luke Rowe, Richard Carapaz, Jonathan Castroviejo, Andrei Amador, Dylan Van Baarle, Pavel Sivakov.Grenadier, a new start-up in the automotive sector, is part of the of the global chemical giant Ineos group.
The brand is known to the general public for the extraordinary sporting passion of its founder Jim Ratcliffe who formed the Grenadier cycling team "Ineos TeamUK" and the Britannia monohull that participated in the 2021 edition of the American's Cup.
They are also sponsors of the two Mercedes - AMG W11 EQs, registered for the 2020 Formula 1 world championship.

In 2020 the Brands Ineos, Grenadier, and Ineos TeamUK are present at the highest level in the world in the sports disciplines of Formula 1, cycling and nautical.

Magna Steyr’s Austrian and Italian divisions were important partners of Ineos in the realisation of this project with STUDIOTORINO acting as technical advisor to Magna Steyr Italia directed by Tiziano Novo for the realization of the prototypes with particular responsibility for quality.
The complete platform (chassis, engine, electronics, road test) and the mathematical surfaces were provided by Magna Steyr Austria as the complete engineering of the bodywork, while the engineering of the bodywork and assembly of the prototype was the work of Magna Steyr Italia

From left Stefano Vayr, Pier.

Luca Curbis and Davide SecoliLuca Curbis and Massimo Mingozzi

Da sinistra Davide Secoli, Carlo Carena, Tiziano Novo and Roberto Gatto

Flavio SecoliCarlo Carena

.Silvano Grosso.Massimo Mingozzi

.Roberto Gatto

From left Massimo Mingozzi, Luca Curbis, Walter Isabello and Luca Iraldi

The Grenadier was the first project of the Covid 19 period, having started in January 2020.
Despite everything it did not suffer any delay thanks to a particularly active management putting good use to most advanced remote communication systems and in the immediate application of the effective health protection systems both in the Magna Steyr Italia technical offices and in the Mercury modeling shop.
Among the Managers involved in the project were Carlo Carena and Michael Messing, coordinated respectively by Hans Peter Pessler and Tiziano Novo.

From left: Davide Secoli, Carlo Carena, Alfredo Stola
and Flavio Secoli.Job Zwollo reference manager in Ineos for the Grenadier project

Ineos coordinator Job Zwollo, was memorable for his tireless efforts in coordination "smart working" despite the problems created by the pandemic.
Teams Ineos, Magna Austria, Magna Italia and STUDIOTORINO interacted throughout the prototype construction period, working side by side Mercury at their Rivoli modeling facility.
The goal of these two Ineos Grenadier prototypes is future series production scheduled for 2022.

Rivoli 11 August 2020 at the Mercury modeling. From the Left Silvano Grosso, Luca Curbis, Gabriel Secoli, Robert Vernacea, Stefano Vayr, Valentino Vernacea, Alfredo Stola (Studiotorino), Massimo Mingozzi, Carlo Carena (Magna Steyr) Job Zwollo (Ineos), Davide Secoli, Tiziano Novo (Magna Steyr), Ermes Rizzardi, Beppe Aiola, Cristian Damiano, Maurizio Damiano and Beppe Comollo.

JUNE 2021

Between the spring and summer of 2021, STUDIOTORINO was engaged by Magna Steyr Italia to provide technical and managerial support for a “concept” project developed on a Mercedes G-Class, which has always been produced at the Austrian plant in Graz.

Mercedes-Benz itself directly oversaw the work through its Graz office, in constant coordination with the Sindelfingen headquarters. The project involved a very special exterior and interior customization of the iconic SUV, designed by Virgil Abloh, founder of the Off-White brand and Creative Director of Louis Vuitton.

As the work took place during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, communication between Italy, Magna Steyr Austria, and Mercedes Austria/Germany was carried out almost entirely via video calls, with bi-weekly scheduled meetings.

The team included Christophe Lengger for Magna Austria, Bern Lederer and Phillip Kien for Mercedes Austria, Tiziano Novo (General Manager of Magna Steyr Italia), Carlo Carena (Project Leader), and for STUDIOTORINO, Maria Paola and Alfredo Stola.
Other Italian companies directly involved by Magna Steyr Italia, in addition to STUDIOTORINO, were: Mercury (coordination, technical consulting, disassembly and reassembly), GR Panting (painting), and Aras (upholstery).

The project called for the creation of an exclusive customization, featuring a unique three-layer paint finish with hand-blended colors, and refined upholstery made from carefully selected materials.
Research on layered colors, leathers, threads, stitching, and embroidery proved extremely complex, with constant exchanges between Rivoli, Graz, and Sindelfingen.

Although the painting was executed entirely by hand, a high-resolution video projector was required to reproduce Virgil Abloh’s original design with millimetric precision.
The interiors demanded materials and finishes of extraordinary quality, worthy of the scrutiny of a global leader in luxury fashion such as Abloh.

The disassembly and reassembly also had to comply with the highest quality standards, equivalent to those of the Graz production plant and in line with Mercedes’ rigorous procedures.

For specific details—most notably the refined identification labels of the prototype in “Baby Blue”—Mercedes Graz engaged a Florentine specialist. Maria Paola Stola personally oversaw every stage of the process, making two trips to Florence together with Bern Lederer of Mercedes Graz.

Sadly, on November 21, 2021, Virgil Abloh passed away unexpectedly at just 41 years old due to a serious illness. His death left not only the fashion world in shock, but also brought deep sadness to the entire Italy-Austria-Germany team that had collaborated on the “One Off” G-Class project.

 15 OCTOBER 2021

Studiotorino in the academic year 2020/21 for the IAAD university, decided to assign thesis titles that did not address the issues of traditional mobility.
Maria Paola Stola was external advisor for these two degree theses by the students Miriel Merulla and Marco Traversa.

Graduate Miriel Merulla was asked to imagine and design a Lunar Rover Vehicle for the NASA Artemis 2024 mission, later postponed to 2025, which will bring the first woman and another man to the moon.
First step to approach the reality of a group of astronauts who will prepare the journey to Mars from our natural satellite with a large deployment of means. The project has been studied in detail with skills acquired from materials available on the sites of NASA and private partners, the name of this multifunctional vehicle is SOULMOON.
The next frontier of mobility starts from the Moon and Studiotorino is already ready to open its horizons with new vehicles.

  Read the thesis Click Here

The graduate Marco Traversa in the academic year 2020/21 for the IAAD university instead ventured on a work of absolute fantasy, the brief was to be inspired by the VisionGT contest created for the Sony Gran Turismo videogame which proposed to design concept cars for videogame competitions.
It was decided to develop a one-off LANCIA with the commemorative name G.L.-ONE in honor of Gianni Lancia who had strongly wanted and founded the racing department of the Turin company.

1953 Gianni Lancia a few minutes before the start of his Lancia D24.1983. Lancia LC 2

The inspiration for this video game Gran Turismo comes from that magical period of the 1980s of the Lancia Martini Endurance, piloted and driven to their maximum victories by the great drivers Patrese and Alboreto.

 Read the thesis Click Here

On 29 June both theses were discussed online, in addition to Maria Paola Stola and the two undergraduates, Masato Inoue was present...

29 June 2021 Maria Paola Stola.

15 October 2021 Allianz Stadium in Turin.

Maria Paola Stola and Miriel Merulla.Maria Paola Stola and Marco Traversa.

October 15, 2021. Some moments of the ceremony in which Miriel Merulla and Marco Traversa are proclaimed.

SEPTEMBER 2022

Between June and September 2022, STUDIOTORINO was once again engaged by Magna Steyr Italia for technical and managerial support in the creation of a second customization of a Mercedes G-Class, once more in the Virgil Abloh version.
The companies involved were the same as in the 2021 concept project.

This time, however, it was no longer a concept, but an exclusive and unique “One Off”, intended for the United States and designed for regular daily use.
For this reason, once transported to Graz, the G-Class underwent a thorough quality inspection and extensive road testing before final delivery, with Carlo Carena present on behalf of Magna Steyr Italia.

 OCTOBER 2022

STUDIOTORINO between April and October 2022 was involved by Magna Steyr Italia directed by Tiziano Novo in a project relating to a Special Edition example of the W Motor Tipo Fenyr.
The activities requested are technical support to the work team, the selection of materials and colors for the interiors.
The project manager for Magna Italia is Carlo Carena.
Regarding the choice of materials and colors, Maria Paola Stola who selected them were then shared and confirmed by Ralph Debbas.

Rivoli 25 October 2022 at Mercury: Maria Paola Stola, Luca Curbis, Susy, Stefano Vair, Alfredo Stola. Davide Secoli, Tiziano Novo, Flavio Secoli, Carlo Carena and Roberto Gatto on the day of the expedition.