Small jewels, big accolades. Compasso d’Oro, of course.
10 June 2023 2 min read 7 images
Photo credit: Fiat, Pininfarina, Zagato, Wheelsage
When it comes to automotive design, the more technical constraints there are, the greater the designer’s contribution to creating a car that is worthy of passing into history. In the history of the Italian Compasso d’Oro, the award established in 1954 by the Association for Industrial Design, there is no shortage of examples of small, intelligent jewels.
In the beginning, there was the “Nuova 500” from 1959, with the award going to engineer Dante Giacosa who paved the way for small cars at Fiat with the 5A, B, later called Topolino, and C after the war. His intention was to make a real car, with a four-stroke engine, even if it had only two cylinders, and not with a motorcycle engine, as was common at the time. This was a resounding success with almost four million units produced, which was celebrated with a new Compasso d’Oro award in 2011 for the 500, expertly redesigned by Roberto Giolito.
Remaining with the Fiat brand, two Compasso d’Oro awards went to Giorgetto Giugiaro: the first with the brilliant Panda of 1981, a perfect little box where every centimetre was valuable, followed by a model that kept Fiat going for years: the Punto.
Fiat Design also won a Compasso d’Oro for the Nuova Panda in 2004, a model that’s still popular in Italy to this day.
And the coachbuilders? A Zagato milestone was the unforgettable award-winning Fiat Abarth 1000 in 1960. A model that dominated track and hillclimb racing.
The famous hand of Pininfarina, of course, was not to be missed, awarded in 2008 for the Nido. This was a prototype of a sustainable city car, full of ideas. In addition to the traditional engine, the Nido was also proposed with an electric motor. Unfortunately, the compass did not complete the circle, and the project went unfinished. What a shame.
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