How did you get the designers ( Filippo Perini and Alessandro Serra ) of the AEHRA SUV on board ? “ It took quite some time to convince the designers . We met at a race track with our children and the first thing he told me was , ‘ You ' re crazy . What are you trying to do here ?’

I kept hammering , hammering , hammering . At one point , he said , ‘ Okay , I think there is a reason to do this , but we cannot have a short nose . We need to have a long nose . And the reason for this is we need to go to the Alto Classica — the event for traditional , classic cars .

And he took me to watch the Diabolic F-type Jaguar , a very old Jaguar . He ' s like , ‘ Look how beautiful it is !’. But I had to say , ‘ Sorry , I really don ' t like it ’.

Shifting his classic mindset to really espouse the main idea was the nicest part . It was challenging , but when it happened , when he married that concept and he started expressing it , that was very satisfying .”

What is it about AEHRA ' s culture that allows the company to succeed in challenging the norm ? “ We have titles , but everybody is focused on bringing the main idea to product . So we see that all the staff espouse the same idea , which is the key determining factor , because once you translate belief into passion , the process carries itself .

I think that ' s the key differentiator that we have . For me , the key milestone was when I saw Filippo espouse this idea , because I saw the way it translated into the wider development of the car .”

EVMAGAZINE . COM [ Jan 2023 ] 19