Italian design house Fioravanti will unveil their latest concept car, named Thalìa, at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show. Company founder Leonardo Fioravanti is one of the highest regarded automotive designers in Italy, with his portfolio including some of the most beautiful Ferrari production cars (Dino, 365 GTB/4 Daytona, 512 BB, 308 GTB/GTS) during his time at Pininfarina.

This latest concept car from the Piedmont design office is named after one of the three Graces of Greek mythology, with Thalìa meaning “the Flowering”. Its unusual form, taking on the shape of a modern crossover, combines elegant styling solutions with a technical and functional character. Under the skin lies the most recent alternative energy technology, the packaging of which has resulted in raising the rear passenger compartment. As a result of the elevated rear compartment, the passengers can also enjoy an independent view forwards. More details on this advanced concept car will be revealed during the Geneva Motor Show.

Fioravanti

The company was set up in 1987 as an architectural practice working on the Japanese market, designing homes in Tokyo and several clubhouses for golf courses in the Tokyo area. In 1991 Fioravanti diversified its activities into services to the automotive industry, focusing in particular on transport and industrial design. Company expresses its philosophy in three concepts: to design is to engrave upon reality; style is a means of perception; and to perceive innovative concepts through awareness of the past.

The company headquarters are housed in Moncalieri, an historic town lying in the Piedmont foothills outside the city of Turin, Italy. By choosing to work out of a building dating back to the 13th -16th centuries, the company is underlining its corporate philosophy: innovative conceptual design in all fields of transport, using leading-edge technology (CAS, CAD, CAM, CFD) in an ambience permeated with the creative beauty of old-world Italy. The same corporate philosophy of sensitivity to environmental and ecological demands underlies the company’s choice of site for its show area for models and prototypes - a natural setting, surrounded by wide open spaces.

C.E.O. Leonardo Fioravanti worked twenty-four years with Pininfarina, where he personally designed some of the most famous Ferrari road cars and became Managing Director and General Manager of Pininfarina’s research arm, Pininfarina Studi & Ricerche. During the years 1988-1991 he was with the Fiat Group, first as deputy General Manager at Ferrari and then as head of Fiat’s design centre.
 

In 1991 Leonardo Fioravanti left Fiat to diversify the activities of his own company, Fioravanti SRL, into services to the automotive industry, focusing in particular on transport and industrial design. The design process harnesses both traditional and advanced methodologies. The most important element in the Fioravanti business and design philosophy is the study of and research into innovative concepts, which in turn translate into the vehicle’s architectural layout and culminate in formal styling. Feasibility studies, engineering and computational aerodynamic research are developed simultaneously. The final phase consists of the building of models and prototypes which then undergo aerodynamic testing in a wind-tunnel.

From 1991-1993 the company worked exclusively for the Fiat Group’s automobile marques - Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo - developing several projects connected to production programmes. In 1994 the company designed and built "Sensiva", a highly-innovative proposal for a hybrid sports car, and presented it at the Turin Motor Show. The project, which encompasses several ecological features, is based on a unique sensitive tyre unit, patented by Fioravanti SRL in Europe, the United States and Japan.

Fioravanti SRL was invited to join the Italian delegation to the EVS 12 Show at Los Angeles and to enter the Compasso d'Oro awards with "Sensiva". In addition, some details of the design, as well as some of its components, formed part of the exhibits at the 1995 "Torino Design" exhibition. In 1996 Fioravanti SRL exhibited two economy vehicle design projects at the Turin Motor Show: "Flair", based on the Fiat Bravo chassis, was a 2+2 coupe', aerodynamically designed (Cd = 0.18) to reduce fuel consumption and featuring air brakes. "Nyce" was an economy vehicle for the leisure market, whose basic concept, a Fiat/Fioravanti patent, is a symmetrical door which opens both ways, reducing the number of expensive body parts to keep costs down.

In addition the company has recently produced several projects in the field of marine and industrial design and is currently working with several automotive manufacturers outside Italy. Fioravanti SRL is a member of ANFIA, ADI and ATA, all of which are Italian associations connected with industrial and, more specifically, automotive engineering and design.