A cooperation with Caselani - Sospiro / Cremona - Italy

I've always been drawn to the idea of reviving a 1950s cab-over-engine truck. There are many such vehicles - some almost forgotten - that shared a similar layout and approach to volume management. Think of the American pickups from the late 1940s, the iconic short-bonnet Mercedes trucks from the 1950s, or the Citroën U23, among many others.

As one of the European examples, the Fiat 615/616 is a very fascinating model which, with its almost cartoonish look and interesting proportions, stands out in the 1950s scene. So when Fabrizio Caselani and I decided to develop a “twin brother” to our Citroën Type H, based on the Stellantis Pro-One X250 van, revisiting this historic Fiat truck felt like a natural next step. Historically, the original Fiat 616N and its predecessor, the 615N, were widely used for transport by major Italian companies - especially in the food and confectionery industries - during the post-war economic boom. Over their many years of production, these models underwent numerous design changes. I tried to find a synthesis that could reference both the 615 and the 616, while also addressing the challenging contradiction between the soft, flowing lines of the original trucks and the square, modular structure of today’s commercial vans, designed for maximum flexibility in length and height.

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