“Sonique is a project that we have spent a lot of time and effort on, making full use of our skills in design in the most complete sense of the word – by which I mean a combination of style and engineering.” As he admires the latest of his creations, Carlo Angiono tells the story of the company he founded in Turin in 1983 together with his brother Roberto, managing director and Carlo’s right hand man, and a third partner (now the Swiss Rieter group). “I had gained experience working at UTS in the Fiat Group, so we initially started off as an engineering services company, hence the name Autostudi.”
Carlo Angiono still keeps the drafting machine he used back then to plot the outlines and plans for his company’s first proj ects. Almost three decades have passed since then, and everything has changed. From the 1980s – a golden age for Turin coachbuilders – to the 1990s, with the drafting board progressively yet irreversibly replaced by CAD, to the first decade of the 21st Century, which saw Autostudi further consolidating its position and broadening its services. From a small office, the company has grown into a design centre with a staff of around 50 employees. A major milestone for the company came in 2000, with the inauguration of the style centre at the new branch in Via Monfalcone.
“Branching out into style had been something I had wanted to do for some time”, says Carlo Angiono. “We had built up our professional experience working with OEM suppliers to carmakers. Now we established contacts with the carmakers themselves, developing an ability to industrialise a complete project.” Roberto Angiono continues: “During these three decades, we have had to adapt to new rhythms. To stay competitive in a rapidly changing market, we decided to broaden our portfolio of services”.
As a result, Autostudi now operates in a number of very diverse areas, from cars and automotive components to product design.
The article continues in Auto & Design no. 180
