The award ceremony for the ASI Grifo d’Oro 2025 competition was held at the ASI headquarters in Villa Rey, Turin. Twenty-seven-year-old Canadian Manik Sharma, a graduate of the IED in Turin, was the winner among the five finalists selected by the international jury, which examined the entries of over 130 candidates. Ilenia Bucchieri (30, a graduate in Design from the University of Modena) and Lorenzo Cotta (26, a graduate of art school) tied for second place.
The ASI Grifo d’Oro Competition was promoted by the Federation’s Manufacturers and Designers Commission on the initiative of Enrico Fumia to revive an initiative launched in 1965 by Nuccio Bertone, a true “talent scout” capable of launching the most brilliant and prolific designers of the 20th century into the Olympus of car design. Suffice it to mention names such as Marcello Gandini, Giorgetto Giugiaro, and Franco Scaglione.
Opening photo, Manik Sharma’s project. Above, Ilenia Bucchieri’s project
The jury, chaired by Alberto Scuro, was composed of Fumia himself, Marie Jeanne Bertone (President of the Nuccio Bertone Foundation), Marta Cinti (journalist for Auto & Design magazine), Rodolfo Gaffino Rossi (professor of design, former director of the National Automobile Museum), Maria Paola Stola Ariusso (IED lecturer, member of the ASI Manufacturers and Designers Commission), Massimo Grandi (professor of design at the University of Florence), Gautam Sen (promoter of the FIVA Heritage Hall of Fame), and Chris Rees (journalist, editor of the international magazine.
Lorenzo Cotta’s project
The theme of the competition was to design a small car suitable for city and suburban traffic, with restrictions on wheelbase, length, and width, and the possibility of using internal combustion, hybrid, or electric engines.
The winning proposal, by Manik Sharma, is inspired by a functional design that must integrate into a dynamic urban ecosystem, in which infrastructure and other means of transport are constantly evolving. Among the main features of the car are sliding side doors and a geometric shape that maximizes interior space, with a clear reference to the iconic Brionvega Radio Cubo of the 1960s.
