DECEMBER 2002

In December 2002, Geoge Upex of Land Rover (at that point part of the Ford group) contacted STOLA s.p.a, following the positive experience of 1997 with the two models of the Mini Spiritual.
The project was ambitious, a show car that would showcase the future of the Range Rover.

February 2003 Coventry. Before starting the construction of the prototype, Giuseppe Di Nunno della Stola s.p.a. he will work for two weeks at the Style Center to share technical feasibility with Land Rover technicians.

The work began in February 2003 with the construction of the exterior and interior models. The prototype promised to be very complex ,especially for the sophisticated interiors and the two Lamborghini-type electric opening doors.
This work also marked a generational change of the Technical Heads of the STOLA prototype department.
Felice Chiara reached retirement age and was replaced by Giovanni Longo. The goal was to present the concept for the upcoming Detroit Motor Show, scheduled for January 10, 2004.

September 2003 moments of the prototype processing before painting. In the photo on the right you can see Aristide in a blue shirt.

September 2003. Alfredo Stola and Giovanni Longo, for him the Range Stormer will be his first job
as the new head of the prototype department.
On the right Maurizio Dimaria.

September 2003. Acquaviva.

September 2003. The Land Rover team residing in
Stola s.p.a.

November 2003 Finishing stages of the Range Rover Stormer Show Car.November 2003 Finishing stages of the Range Rover Stormer Show Car.

November 2003. final finishing stages. In the photo on the left you can see Longo with the blue shirt.November 2003. final finishing stages.
Stole posing with Tesauro

November 2003. Gram Alchoc, P.M. Range StormerNovember 2003 ...

November 2003. The exteriors are practically finished and the assembly of the interiors will begin soon.

December 2003. The photos in the studio taken in Turin.

December 2003. Preliminary phases for the night photo shoot at Alfredo's home
and Maria Paola Stola.

The name would eventually become Range Stormer, and in addition to the classic studio shoot, Land Rover's marketing team would also ask for an unusual photo shoot at Alfredo and Maria Paola Stola's house at night.
This was an unforgettable experience, not least because it demonstrated the perfect harmony between Land Rover and Stola teams.

January 2004 Detroit. Alfredo Stola, Matthew Taylor Managing Director Land Rover and Gioachino Grande.

December 2003. A welcome tribute to Alfredo Stola by Land Rover designer Richard Woolley.
During this year of work Alfredo asks Richard to imagine a special edition of the Defender duble cab pick up Stola for an exploration in Iceland.

During the development of Range Stormer , Gerry McGovern was the director of the Land Rover Style Center, in February 2004 Alfredo Stola and Gioachino Grande visited him at his Gaydon office in Britain to talk about a new model.
The idea is to imagine the new Land Rover Defender, one of the most iconic cars in the world.
Ultimately, due to strategy, this model would never be built by Land Rover group.
This glorious model would later be resumed in 2017, its production and marketing is scheduled for 2020.
Regarding the Range Stormer, all the style concepts were later seen on the production Range Rovers in the following years.

 

DECEMBER 2002

In the last days of 2002 the Mitsubishi Europe Style Centre, still directed by Akinori Nakanishi, proposed a model style for their K Car named EK Wagon.
The designers residing in Rivoli for this project were Osamu Tsushiiya and Hassan Mir.

Rivoli March 2003: in Stola s.p.a. a style model proposal is made for the future EK Vagon. The design is made and directed by the Mitsubishi Europa Style Center.

 

DECEMBER 2002

February 2003 Shanghai One of the first images seen in China: President Jiang Zemin.

China had become an important market for European companies supplying models, cubing, show cars and engineering.
STOLA had been producing cubing models for the Volkswagen plant in Shanghai since 1999, with the work completed on-site with assistance to the customer personally managed by Tiziano Novo and a small technical group from Rivoli. 
With the opportunity of many trips to China, new customers were acquired through an effective business strategy, month after month.
On one of his trips in 2000, Novo met the Goudong partners who would become field representatives for all potential customers with the exception of VW.
Alfredo Stola, is intrigued by the potential of this great country, and so, shortly before Christmas 2002, he asks Tiziano Novo to organize a purely commercial 10 day trip across the nation in order to visit the major car manufacturers and meet their most important directors..

December 2002 Rivoli Via Ferrero 9. Tiziano Novo in the sales office in STOLA s.p.a. plan your trip to China.

Image photographed from the street on billboard.An impressive series of meetings were organised for February 2003.
A journey to discover an evolving world that, in the following months, would bring even more important work in terms of complexity and value.
This trip actually started from Malaysia with a working meeting with the technicians and managers of Proton as we were receiving their cubing in that month.

Image photographed from the street on billboard.In the following days the main car manufacturers were visited, including VW in Shanghai, Brilliance Auto of Shenyang, Hafei Motor in Harbin, FAW in Changchun and to finish, again in Shanghai, Patac, Maple Automobile and the Geely.
In this last meeting with Geely, Alfredo and Tiziano Novo had a long and cordial conversation with President Li Shufu.

February 2003 The trip to China is preceded by a first meeting in Malaysia at the Proton customer.

February 2003 Kuala Lumpur, Stola and Novo review X and Y, designers of STOLA s.p.a. away at Proton. On this occasion Alfredo Stola meets the CEO of Proton X.

Dr. Lee wife and assistant of Dr. Goudong with Tiziano Novo, right Alfredo Stola in a souvenir photo with Dr. Lee before entering the VW plant.

February 2003 the first visit to Shanghai at the Volkswagen plant, already a customer for the Cubing sector for some years. Novo and Stola meet the VW managers.

February 2003. The day after the visit to VW a meeting at Maple Automobile.

February 2003 The second visit is in the city of Shenyang to the Brilliance Auto manufacturer, already a customer of STOLA s.p.a. in the Cubing sector. In the last photo on the right, Dr. Goudong.

February 2003 Alfredo Stola is about to take off from Shenyang for Harbin in the far north of China.

February 2003 Here is the entrance of the Hafei Motor management offices in the city of Hrbin.

February 2003 A striking image of Hafei Motor employees entering their offices.

February 2003. Classic ritual photos of Alfredo Stola and Tiziano Novo, on the left with the general management of Hafei Motor and on the right with some technicians employed.

February 2003. The transfer trip from Harbin city to Changchun city. On the right Tiziano Novo.

February 2003 In the city of Changchun a visit to the car manufacturer Faw Car. On the right, the usual photo of Alfredo Stola with the Faw managers.

February 2003. Tiziano Novo makes a presentation to Faw managers who are not customers of STOLA s.p.a ..

February 2003. Alfredo Stola at Changchun airport together with Tiziano Novo are about to take off for the city of Shanghai.

February 2003, Shanghai. The last two days with an operational base in the historic Peace Hotel.

February 2003. Alfredo Stola and Tiziano Novo accompanied by Goudong to a meeting at the Patac company. On that occasion, the Chinese managers showed a certain interest in particular in the activities of STOLA s.p.a. in the Show Cars sector.

February 2003. Last day in Shanghai, before taking off to return to Europe. Departure from the Peace Hotel and the morning is dedicated to meeting the president of Geely Mr. Li Shufu in Shanghai Fengjing Industriai District. Unfortunately, the photos of the meeting were lost.

JANUARY 24, 2003

 

The lawyer Gianni AgnelliFriday 24 January 2003, Luigi Gallina, sales representative of Stola S.p.A. particularly dedicated to Fiat Auto, already in the office around 07.15, he receives a phone call from Engineer Paolo Ollino Director of the C.S. department. (Experimental Constructions) of Mirafiori.
Without explaining the reason he was asked to immediately go to the factory in via Biscaretti di Ruffia 25 with four expert modellers/assembly technicians.
Twenty minutes later, Gallina with the small team reach the Mirafiori factory and are received by Engineer Ollino in a presentation room, inside which there is a black production Fiat Ulisse, a metallic gray Mercedes 250 hearse and a coffin.
He personally informs them that the lawyer Gianni Agnelli has recently died, and that the Ulysses must immediately be set up as a hearse, using the internal technical components of the Mercedes, modifying and adapting them to perfection.

ANSA press releas(ANSA issued its first press release on the passing of the Honorary President of Fiat Auto and Senator of the Republic Gianni Agnelli at 08:57; therefore after the arrival of the modellers/assembly technicians at the Mirafiori plant.)
The mood is shaken, the emotion is great, but the sense of responsibility will ensure that the work will begin immediately together with another team of Fiat Auto technicians from the C.S. department. ; the Ulysses hearse must be ready within the next 38 hours.
The work is complex given the size of the Fiat vehicle, but the commitment of the two teams to set up the minivan will be such as to allow the work to be finished on time, also using the night to guarantee the pre-arranged delivery.
On Saturday late afternoon, unscheduled, we are also asked to immediately find an expert to darken only the rear windows, and so the Solar Tech supplier will be involved, who will be the last to finish the job in the evening.
The following Sunday morning the funeral took place in Turin Cathedral, and among the many thousands in attendance also the President of the Italian Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.

Turin 26 January 2002: the Fiat Ulisse hearse arriving at the Duomo.

The lawyer Gianni Agnelli has always been a point of reference for the Stolas, a person esteemed and admired, and even without personal knowledge, every work done towards Fiat has always been in a certain sense imagined for him, and only those who are from Turin of a certain generation can very well understand it.

Rivoli 27 January 2003: a heartfelt letter from Alfredo Stola sent to Engineer Paolo Ollino of Fiat Auto.

PUBLISHED APRIL 2024

 

MARCH 2003

As soon as the 2003 edition of the Geneva Motor Show ended with the Stola GTS, it was immediately planned to take part in the next, with a "Limousine" derived from the Lancia Thesis.
Called S85, to celebrate the eighty-fifth anniversary of the company.
This prototype, in reality was ready two years before hand and should have been called S82, but its history was complex and interesting, given an unexpected and prestigious development.

In October 2000, Giancarlo Concilio on behalf of Lancia released the definitive sketch of the exterior of the Thesis Limousine.

July 2001 Rivoli. At the Linea Gam modeling shop in Vittorio Grasso.
A mixed team of Stola and Linea Gam modelers will build the interiors on a previously extended Lancia Thesis prototype.

Rivoli, from the end of 2000 the actual engineering and construction work on the prototype began with the sheet metal derived from the pre-production Lancia Thesis sedan.

On 4 September 2000, Alfredo Stola proposed the idea to the engineer Paolo Cantarella as the Stola company was then completing the engineering of the Thesis.
The proposal of this special was immediately greeted with interest, the Fiat Group had already created some limousine configurations on the Lancia Thema and Kappa.
Alfredo explained how the interiors would be very luxurious, with the use of the finest materials from Poltrona Frau and with a wooden parquet floor.
The only condition that Cantarella CEO imposed was that the style should be executed by a Lancia designer under the super-vision of engineer Nevio Di Giusto.

Rivoli July 2001 The Lancia Thesis Limousine S82 in paint shop on the second floor of the prototype department.

It is also proposed that the prototype be presented on the Lancia stand at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show 2001 as a concept.
Architect Giancarlo Concilio, of the Lancia Style Center, is appointed as designer, who will design all the interiors and the extension of the exterior.
At the end of August 2001, a few days before the opening of the show, when the work was finished, the leaders of Fiat Auto unexpectedly decided to no longer present the prototype, postponing the launch to a future date.

Rivoli September 2001 the Limousine painted in a special blue-gray even if ready it will never leave for the Frankfurt Motor Show. At that time it was still called S82. This same prototype in 2004 will be repainted with a bi-color and renamed S85.

The reasoning was explained to the Stola team, a change of strategy in relation to the entry into mass production of the Thesis berlina which was increasingly delayed.
On September 11th, a few minutes after 2.46 pm, the dramatic news of the air attack on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon was spreading at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
The tragic live images from the United States appeared from the screens of the various car manufacturers' stands.

New York 11 September 2001 at 3:03 pm in Frankfurt also the second tower of the W.T.C. gets hit.

The information following the second crash along with the other missing planes spread panic among the visitors of the salon, foreshadowing a world war.
Roberto Stola, together with some of his collaborators of that time, was visiting the Frankfurt Motor Show as the Smart Tridion 4 Concept and the Nissan Cross Bow Show Car were being presented, both made in the Rivoli modeling shop.

Frankfurt 11 September 2001 The Tridion 4 on the Smart stand and the Cross Bow on the Nissan stand are two concepts created by Stola s.p.a. for their customers.

A week after the attacks on American soil, among car manufacturers a strong pessimism had crept in, also in STOLA s.p.a, many show cars and style models in the course of work and future construction were suspended, canceled or slowed down.
In light of these events, the Lancia Thesis Limousine designed and built at its own expense by Stola was somewhat forgotten, not only by them but also by Fiat managers.
In the first few days of January 2002 came a surprise, after recent experience, the Fiat Auto board commissioned STOLA spa to build another, new, extended Thesis for the President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, and two more with configurations still to be to decide.
The style of the interiors for the presidential version was very different from the 2000/2001 version, though once again was the work of the Giancarlo Concilio.
As for armour plating, it was entrusted to the specialist Repetti.

May 2002 The final design of the presidential Thesis Limousine in blue by Giancarlo Concilio.

June 2002 Giancarlo Concilio on behalf of Lancia releases the first interior designs of the presidential variant
of the Thesis Limousine.

Rivoli in March 2002 activities begin on the body of the presidential Thesis Limousine which will then be completed with armor plating in the Repetti plant. Who will also take care of the glass.

The Thesis Limousine will was handed over to the President of the Republic Carlo Azzeglio Ciampi on June 6, 2003 with a presentation at the Quirinale internal courtyard by Dr. Umberto Agnelli and Giuseppe Morchio, CEO of the Turin group.

Rome 6 June 2003 at the Quirinal Palace Umberto Agnelli accompanied by CEO Giuseppe Morchio gives the President of the Republic Carlo Azelio Ciampi an armored Thesis Limousine.

Rome 6 June 2003 at the Quirinal palace the President Carlo Azelio Ciampi sits for the first time inside the presidential Thesis Limousine, which for the record the rear interiors are different
of what will later be the Stola S85.

Shortly afterwards work of the other two elongated Thesis was, unfortunately, suspended.
At the end of March 2003 STOLA s.p.a. re-evaluated the prototype that had never been presented, it had been stored with the aim of showing it the following year at the Geneva Motor Show.
Given past experience and with a rather anonymous grey livery, the Lancia Thesis Limousine was be completely repainted in an eye-catching two-tone amaranth under guidance of Rossella Guasco and Serena Chionetti of the colour department of the Fiat Style Center.
The interiors were also revised to improve the design.

 Rossella Guasco

Serena Chionetti

January 2004. Advertising page for Auto&Design magazine.

November 2003 the two-tone drawing by Giancarlo Concilio used to replace the gray version of the end of August 2001.

Spring 2003 the design by Giancarlo Concilio of the interior of the S85 redesigned given the past time.

Rivoli December 2003. Alfredo Stola in the painting department on the second floor of the factory in via Ferrero 9.

Rivoli December 2003 Giancarlo Concilio and Silvia Calautti can be recognized in the background in the center.Rivoli December 2003 Gigi Gallina, Alfredo Stola and Giancarlo Concilio pose for a souvenir photo with the S85.

February 2004 The official photos for the S85 press kit before being exhibited at the Geneva Motor Show.

April 2004 In the photo shoot organized by the journalist Giancarlo Perini after the show.
On the left Laura Novarese on the right Silvia Calautti della Stola s.p.a.

 April 2004 The journalist Giancarlo Perini organizes a photo shoot.
The fake driver is Silvia Calautti, an employee of Stola s.p.a.

Geneva. Luigi Gallina prepares a coffee while enjoying the success of the S85 without forgetting the Presidential.To continue the tradition ,this prototype was called S85 to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the company's foundation, and was finally presented on the STOLA stand in Geneva on 4 March 2004.
Luigi Gallina was the manager who followed these limousine projects, from both a technical and organizational point of view, for three years, with passion and competence.

4 March 2004 Geneva Motor Show the S82 on the Stola s.p.a. stand

Geneva 4 March 2004. A very pleasant visit to the Stola stand of Jurgen Hubbert CEO of Daimler Chrysler. Alfredo Stola personally describes the interior of the S85 to him.

Geneva 2004 Two important visits from design men, on the left Patrick Le Quément director of Renault and
Shiro Nakamura director of Nissan.

Geneva 2 March 2004, On the left P. Arcadipane, A. Stola, M. Mauer on the right A. Stola with Sergio Pininfarina.

Geneva 2 March 2004 On the left S. Mattin, H. Leschke, G. Grande and J. Piaskowski.
On the right Tiziano Novo with a Chinese delegation of the X

Geneva 2 March 2004. Maria Paola Stola.

Silvia Calautti with the two designers Giancarlo Concilio
and Daniele Gaglione

Geneva 2 March 2004 On the left H. Wester, A. Stola and C. Alecci. On the right G. Gallina, L. Minardi
and T. Novo.

Geneva 2 March 2004. S. Calautti and L. Novarese.Geneva 2 March 2004. H. Sinkwitz and G. Grande.

Geneva 4 March 2004 Alfredo and Maria Paola Stola with Fabrizio Giugiaro.

Geneva 2004 Luigi Gallina and Giancarlo Concilio among the most important architects of the Stola S85 project and Lancia Thesis Presidential Limousine. To the engineers Paulo Cantarella and Nevio Di Giusto goes the thanks of Alfredo Stola for having always supported these projects.

In 2008 the Lancia Thesis Limousine called S85 was purchased by the Swiss collector Heini Rutz, thus also becoming part of the prestigious Lancia Club Suisse.

Switzerland 2008: the Stola S85 from the Rutz collection