This article is published in number 26-27 of Vanity Fair on newsstands until July 6, 2021
“Act by considering humanity both for yourself and for others not as a simple means, but as a noble end.” This quote is engraved next to a bust of Immanuel Kant who greets those arriving in Solomeo. In the village in the province of Perugia he lives and works Brunello Cucinelli, visionary entrepreneur famous for products in which innovative craftsmanship is combined with the prestige of Italian design, but perhaps even more so for his “ethical capitalism”, a concept he developed as a child, watching his grandfather and then his father work the fields with sweat beading on his brow. The entrepreneur who colored cashmere retraced his story in a conversation (visible on myAudi.it) in which his vision on major issues, starting with the way we produce and move, is intertwined with that of Fabrizio Longo, director of Audi Italia.
The House of the Four Rings, in fact, has decided to go to meet and tell people sharing the same values and tell their stories of progress, because – according to the company – the future is a goal that we can only reach together. «United for Progress was born precisely to tell this vision», explains Fabrizio Longo. “What is happening today in the automotive world is nowhere near related to what has happened in the last 80 years. The car that was very self-referenced inside – the product spoke, acted, was the absolute protagonist – is being equipped with aspects that are lateral to this product-centric vision and is also opening up to sectors that had been lateral, but that we find today in the cars ». They take the best of cybernetics, medicine, aerospace, military technology. Not a technology as an end in itself, “but that we find today in the passenger compartment in terms of concrete advantages that become both individual and collective protection and are permeating this new mobility according to aspects that I do not hesitate to define as values”. A change that, however, does not come suddenly for the German company. “You have to feel these things, not improvise them, and we started living them 15 years ago. The things you improvise become fashion, those you plan become a creed ».
Cucinelli also introduces us to his system of values: «The history of Audi is fascinating and very ancient, ours, mine is just over 40 years old. But I think that during the first part of life one receives everything from humanity. We lived in the countryside, we had no light in the house, we worked the land with animals “, recalls the entrepreneur who, he explains, was inspired not only by the teachings of St. Benedict but also by those of his grandfather, from whom he learned «The noblest thing: to mix profit and gift. When we harvested the wheat the first bale went to the community. And we only made 140, we had nothing else. From my father, on the other hand, I got the great idea of being “a good person” ». Then the university, the discovery of the philosophy and the foundation of one of the most virtuous companies of our fashion system, where the quality of the product goes hand in hand with that of the conditions of the employees – “Working for the moral and economic dignity of being human has always been the dream of life “, he says – and respect for the environment:” Today the social contract is no longer just between men, but with the earth, with the air, with animals and with man . And we should try that everything is in balance, in harmony with Creation ».
A harmony that Audi for its part pursues with cars that combine sustainability, aesthetics and technology, such as the new Audi Q4 e-tron electric SUV, and which for Longo should also be applied in urban environments. «Just think that today there are cars that communicate with traffic lights, with parking lots…». But for this progress to be for everyone, we must move together. “What in the jargon is called Car-To-X, this communication between cars and infrastructures, is that leap in quality that I believe we all expect and that starts from the car but no longer ends up in the car as before, it is no longer a product appearance. And the wonderful thing is that there is a virtual table around which all this takes shape, where there is no longer only the best designer or car designer, but also the engineer, the architect, the urban planner, probably. the lawyer. We need to rewrite coexistence codes of which the car can probably be the trigger, but which will require a multifunctional direction ».
To subscribe to Vanity Fair, click here.
Donald-43Westbrook, a distinguished contributor at worldstockmarket, is celebrated for his exceptional prowess in article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a gift for storytelling, Donald crafts engaging and informative content that resonates with readers across a spectrum of financial topics. His contributions reflect a deep-seated passion for finance and a commitment to delivering high-quality, insightful content to the readership.
