Flavio Manzoni (born 7 January 1965 in Nuoro, Sardinia) is an Italian architect and automobile designer. He has held the position of Chief Design Officer at Ferrari since January 2010, leading the development of many Ferrari models, including the LaFerrari.
Before joining Ferrari, Manzoni contributed to the design of Lancia and Maserati cars. He also served as the creative director of the Volkswagen Group during the 2000s and 2009. His passion for automotive design and his creative vision continue to significantly impact the industry.
Concept Lancia Stilnovo et Lancia Granturismo Stilnovo
Concept Lancia Fulvia Coupé
In 2001 Manzoni returned to Lancia and was appointed Design Director. He took charge of the concept cars Lancia Granturismo, Lancia Granturismo Stilnovo and Lancia Fulvia Coupé Concept, great success at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2003, and the production cars Lancia Ypsilon and Lancia Musa, winning the '"European Automotive Design Award" in 2003.[5]
In 2006, with other authors, he wrote L'automobile italiana published by Giunti Editore. The same year, he moved to the Volkswagen group joining Audi, becoming in February 2007 the artistic director of the Volkswagen group "north" pole, where he began to work on a new stylistic image of the Volkswagen, Skoda, Bentley and Bugatti brands. He designed the concept Up!, followed by the Scirocco model and the Volkswagen Golf restyling, called Golf VI, presenting the "Golf Plus" version at 2008 Bologna Motorshow. Also in 2007 he became a member of the iF-Award Product Design jury.[citation needed]
From 12 January 2010 he joined Ferrari as director of design, replacing Donato Coco and creating an internal, complete and autonomous Style Center for the first time in the history of the brand. Ferrari FF is the first production car he oversee development with. He presented the Ferrari SA Aperta roadster at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. In 2012, at the Geneva Motor Show, he presented the Ferrari F12berlinetta, heir of the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano and the first Ferrari developed by the Ferrari Style Center in collaboration with Pininfarina. Thanks to F12berlinetta he won the Auto Bild Design Award 2012, as the most beautiful car in Europe, and the Golden Steering Wheel. In 2013 he made the heir of Enzo Ferrari: La Ferrari. He oversaw the lightening and aerodynamic redesign of the Ferrari 458 Speciale. In 2011 Flavio Manzoni was included into the Automobile Design Hall of Fame at the National Automobile Museum in Turin, Italy.[citation needed]
In May 2014 he received the Compasso d'Oro award in the name of Ferrari, which rewards the combination of technology and design of the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta.[6]
In December 2014 on Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, his FXX-K was presented as the most powerful Ferrari ever. Although partially based on the very first hybrid car produced in Maranello, LaFerrari, the FXX-K is in fact a completely new car.
In December 2016 the Ferrari J50 was presented in Tokyo. Designed by Flavio Manzoni together with the Ferrari style center, it is a sports car produced in a limited edition to celebrate Ferrari's fifty years of presence in Japan. Among his latest works there are the F12 TdF (Tour de France), the most extreme version of the F12berlinetta, the Ferrari GTC4Lusso, sophisticated four-seater 690 HP coupé, the 488GTB sportscar and the 488 Spider open version and the California T, with important technical innovations.[citation needed]
With his team he is directing the project of the "New Ferrari Style Center" in the production site of Ferrari S.p.A. based in Maranello (Modena). Each of the four floors of the new building is dedicated to a different project design stage.[7]
In March 2017, the Ferrari 812 Superfast was presented at the Geneva Motor Show, designed by the Ferrari Style Center led by Flavio Manzoni. In September, the new Ferrari Portofino is presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
He oversees the project of the "New Ferrari Style Center" inside the Ferrari production plant in Maranello (Modena). The new building, inaugurated on 18 September 2018, is spread over four levels with natural lights and open spaces. The top floor contains a high-tech room [unclear] for the presentation of the projects. The Style Center also houses the company's Tailor Made department.[citation needed]
In September 2018 Manzoni presented the Ferrari SP38 Deborah at the Grand Basel Show demonstrating his great passion for design: "It's so important to show the shape of a car as it was intended, as a masterpiece or a work of art. These presentation frames are great at stimulating contemplation – normally, we’re used to seeing cars in noisy and chaotic environments. But here, there's nothing but the car, its name, and its date. There are no distractions."[8]
The University of Sassari awarded him an honorary degree in Modern Philology and Cultural Industry on 28 June 2019 and Manzoni proposes a Lectio Doctoralis entitled Ferrari Design The metalanguage of form.[citation needed]
For the partnership between Ferrari and Hublot, the historic luxury watchmaking fashion house, in 2019 he designed of the Hublot Classic Fusion Ferrari GT watch, inspired by the Ferrari "Gran Turismo" universe.[9]
On the 28 of May 2024 the University of Florence awarded him an honorary degree in Design; the degree is awarded for contributing to the evolution and history of automotive design.
The Ferrari Purosangue model was awarded the prestigious Compasso d'Oro for its innovative design on June 20, 2024, during a ceremony in Milan. The award, which celebrates the model's design excellence and its ability to combine performance with aesthetic sophistication, was accepted by Flavio Manzoni on behalf of Ferrari, emphasizing the importance of design in the brand's evolution.[10]
The Ferrari Styling Centre, led by Flavio Manzoni, received a prestigious award at the 2024 Turin Auto Show. The event took place on September 13 in Turin to celebrate automotive design excellence through the exhibition of 50 of the most iconic models produced by the company. The award was granted for contributions to automotive design, honoring the distinctive models created by the Ferrari team, which combine innovation, elegance, and performance in a unique blend. Among the event highlights was the Ferrari SF90 XX Spider, showcased in a static exhibition alongside other renowned models such as the Purosangue, the 296 GTB, and the historic 308 GTB. Flavio Manzoni also participated in the celebratory parade, dedicated to the most exclusive prototypes by renowned Italian coachbuilders, driving the Ferrari Roma Spider.
Giovanni Michelotti was one of the most prolific designers of sports cars in the 20th century. His notable contributions were for Ferrari, Lancia, Maserati and Triumph marques. He was also associated with truck designs for Leyland Motors, and with designs for British Leyland after the merger of Leyland and BMC.
Giorgetto Giugiaro is an Italian automotive designer. He has worked on supercars and popular everyday vehicles. He was named Car Designer of the Century in 1999 and inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2002. He was awarded the Compasso d'Oro industrial design award six times.
Marcello Gandini was an Italian car designer, widely known for his work with the Italian car design house, Bertone, where his work included designing the Alfa Romeo Carabo and Montreal, Lancia Stratos Zero, Maserati Khamsin, Ferrari GT4, Fiat X1/9, and several Lamborghinis, including the Bravo, Miura, Marzal, Espada, Urraco, and Countach. Gandini himself said his design interests prioritised vehicle architecture, construction, assembly, and mechanisms over styling.
A transaxle is a single mechanical device which combines the functions of an automobile's transmission, axle, and differential into one integrated assembly. It can be produced in both manual and automatic versions.
In automotive engineering, a mid-engine layout describes the placement of an automobile engine in front of the rear-wheel axles, but behind the front axle.
The Ferrari Dino engine is a line of mechanically similar V6 and V8 engines produced by Ferrari for about 40 years from the late 1950s into the early 2000s.
Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera is an Italian automobile coachbuilder. Originally established in Milan in 1925, Carrozzeria Touring became well known for both the beauty of its designs and patented superleggera construction methods. The business folded in 1966. In 2006 its brands and trademarks were purchased and a new firm was established nearby to provide automotive design, engineering, coachbuilding, homologation services, non-automotive industrial design, and restoration of historic vehicles.
The Geneva International Motor Show was an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva.
The Fiorano Circuit is a private racetrack owned by Ferrari for development and testing purposes. It is located in Fiorano Modenese, near the Italian town of Maranello. The circuit has FIA Grade 2 license.
The Turin Motor Show is an auto show held annually in Turin, Italy. The first official show took place between 21 and 24 April 1900, at the Castle of Valentino, becoming a permanent fixture in Turin from 1938 having shared it with Milan and Rome until that time. From 1972, the show was held biannually and in 1984, it moved into Fiat's shuttered Lingotto factory.
The Red Dot Design Award is an international, annual design competition for product and industrial design, brand and communication design as well as design concepts, in which the Red Dot quality label is awarded to winners. The Red Dot Design Award, which is organized by Red Dot GmbH & Co. KG, dates back to 1954 when the "Verein Industrieform e. V." was founded.
The Ferrari F12berlinetta is a front mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive grand tourer produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari. The F12berlinetta debuted at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, and replaced the 599 grand tourer. The naturally aspirated 6.3 litre Ferrari V12 engine used in the F12berlinetta has won the 2013 International Engine of the Year Award in the Best Performance category and Best Engine above 4.0 litres. The F12berlinetta was named "The Supercar of the Year 2012" by car magazine Top Gear. The F12berlinetta was replaced by the 812 Superfast in early 2017.
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The Ferrari Monza SP1 and SP2 are limited production sports cars produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari, introduced in 2018 for the 2019 model year. The cars mark the start of a new lineage of models called the "Icona" series, a program aimed at creating special cars inspired by classic Ferrari models, all to be produced in limited series. The first cars of the new lineage are the Monza SP1 and SP2, whose designs are inspired by the 750 Monza, 250 Testarossa and 166 MM. The SP1 and SP2 nomenclature refers to the number of seats for each model. 499 units were built at a price of €1.58 million before options.
The Ferrari SF90 Stradale is a mid-engine PHEV sports car produced by the Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari. The car shares its name with the SF90 Formula One car with 90 standing for the 90th anniversary of the Scuderia Ferrari racing team and "Stradale", an Italian word for "made for the road".
The Ferrari Roma is a grand touring car by Italian manufacturer Ferrari. It has a front mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout with a turbocharged V8 engine and a 2+2 seating arrangement. Based on the Ferrari Portofino, the car is placed between the Portofino and the F8 Tributo in Ferrari's range of sports cars.
The Ferrari Purosangue is a performance car by Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari that was introduced on 13 September 2022. It is Ferrari's first production 4-door vehicle, and competes with high-performance SUVs such as the Lamborghini Urus and Aston Martin DBX. It is the first vehicle of its kind produced by the Italian manufacturer, and the second Ferrari equipped with 4 doors and 4 seats.
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