In the automotive field, "Mole" is a brand name that carries two different positioning orientations, referring respectively to niche supercars dominated by Italian design and urban electric microcars. Although the two brand entities are relatively independent in terms of founders, business models, and technical paths, both are highly associated with the design team of Italian industrial designer Umberto Palermo.
Mole Automobile is a niche supercar and custom modification brand from Italy, founded by designer Umberto Palermo in the mid-2010s and headquartered in Turin. The brand mainly engages in limited-edition supercar design, full carbon fiber chassis custom models, and luxury car modification services. It has successively launched the Almas supercar concept car and multiple custom modification models based on Alfa Romeo and Fiat, with high personalization, handmade manufacturing, and forward-looking concepts (such as hydrogen energy) as its core selling points.
Mole Urbana is a city zero-emission micro electric vehicle project initiated by the Palermo design team. It was later operated independently and absorbed external financing, aiming to build modular lightweight pure electric four-wheelers and urban commercial vehicles inspired by the Japanese K-Car concept. Its characteristics include environmentally friendly material production, minimalist design, and a high proportion of localized Italian supply chains.
The brand's logo consists of specially designed sharp patterns. The upper part resembles a pagoda tip, widening gradually from top to bottom, creating a strong visual impact. The middle part features a wide capital letter "M," representing the brand’s initial. The overall shape can also be seen as an inverted wine glass, possessing an elegant and noble temperament.
The history of the Mole brand began with Umberto Palermo. As the owner of a design company named after him in Turin, Palermo has long engaged in third-party project development, gradually cooperating with brands such as Mole Costruzione Artigianale, Mole Urbana, and Van-Up for design, manufacturing, and marketing.
In 2016, Palermo officially established the Mole brand, positioning it as a designer sports car factory creating extreme limited exclusive electric vehicles. The first products were two electric vehicle models named Valentino and Luce designed to pay tribute to the Turin Motor Show. In 2017, Mole Automobile launched the custom work 124 Mole Artigianale 001 based on the Fiat 124 Spider, first showcasing the brand’s engineering strength in the field of handmade customization.
In 2018, the brand developed the Mole Costruzione Artigianale 001 custom model based on the Alfa Romeo 4C chassis, making its public debut at the Turin Auto Salon. In 2019, the brand cooperated with the Adler Group to officially release the new supercar concept car Almas at the Geneva Motor Show, using a full carbon fiber monocoque body, foreshadowing the brand’s exploration in the hydrogen power system direction. Almas was originally planned to enter the limited production stage, but subsequent progress failed to materialize. Later in the same year, Mole Automobile’s new car appeared at the Geneva Motor Show, with a chassis made entirely of carbon fiber materials.
Afterwards, Mole’s strategic focus gradually shifted towards urban electric mobility, and the Mole Urbana project entered an acceleration stage. In 2020, Mole Urbana was established in Fabriano, Italy. In December 2024, Mole Urbana completed a 3.5 million euro capital increase through CDP Venture Capital’s green transformation fund, the Piemonte Next fund, and Marche region investors, to initiate initial production. In October 2025, the brand released the Malya concept car, showcasing a new generation design solution beyond the pure urban environment. Entering 2026, Mole Urbana is still pushing forward mass production preparation and market expansion.
Mole brand’s automotive product line exists in two business sectors: limited supercars and custom modified models presented by Mole Automobile, and Mole Urbana-led modular pure electric microcar series.
Mole Automobile Sector:
Valentino and Luce (2016 Plan): Brand’s earliest announced electric vehicle model plan, originally scheduled to make a public debut at the Turin Motor Show in June 2016, positioned as extreme limited exclusive electric vehicles, but subsequent mass production information was extremely limited.
Fiat 124 Mole Artigianale 001 (2017): Personalized modification work based on the Fiat 124 Spider, crafted by Mole Automobile by hand, giving the classic convertible sports car an Italian localized design interpretation.
Alfa Romeo Mole Costruzione Artigianale 001 (2018): Custom supercar based on the Alfa Romeo 4C chassis and carbon fiber body, appearance integrates Alfa Romeo’s latest design language and Zagato style rear tail design. Interior aspect, instrument panel covered with leather, plastic air conditioning control panel and air outlets are replaced by aluminum parts.
Almas (2019): Brand’s most representative supercar concept car, premiered globally at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show. Body dimensions 4730mm×1980mm×1218mm, wheelbase 2600mm. Adopted full carbon fiber body and mid-engine layout, supported by Adler Group for carbon fiber chassis technical support. Appearance adopts red and black color scheme, split headlight group design, and quad exhaust pipes; equipped with 21-inch forged wheel rims and front six rear four piston calipers. Compatible with hydrogen fuel cell and gasoline engine two power schemes, but mass production parameters not announced.
Mole Urbana Sector:
Mole Urbana Micro Electric Vehicle Series: 11 vehicle model plans developed based on a modular shared chassis, meeting different daily needs for two-seater, four-seater, and pickup truck commercial versions, dimensions covering the range of 2.8 to 3.7 meters. Frame design inspired by racing, equipped with reinforced roll cage, front part has collision collapse structure. Body outer plates and structural parts use a large amount of recyclable materials, including aluminum recovered from soda cans, recycled ABS, and interior decoration using recycled wood.
Malya Concept Car (2025): Latest concept extension plan of the Mole Urbana project, released in October 2025. Positioning between four-wheeled motorcycles and urban cars as a new vehicle category, possessing minimalist design and high modularity, retaining lightweight, low energy consumption characteristics, while striving to go further in size and function compared to standard microcars.
Mole brand’s two entities are extremely limited in public sales data. Mole Automobile’s supercars and custom models have extremely low production volume and are highly scarce: Fiat 124 Mole Artigianale 001 and Alfa Romeo Mole Costruzione Artigianale 001 are both one-off custom models; Almas was planned for limited production, but did not actually enter the formal mass production stage. The brand’s cooperation with Umberto Palermo Design and Adler Group was dominated by showcasing concepts and handmade manufacturing.
Mole Urbana shows stronger market vitality at the financing level. After completing 3.5 million euro financing in December 2024, Mole Urbana has 21 employees and has entered the revenue generation stage, implementing the construction and renovation of two manufacturing bases. The brand targets the rapidly growing European micro electric vehicle market. In 2023, this market grew 30% year-on-year, and in the first half of 2024, it recorded another 35% growth. Mole Urbana is expected to initiate initial production after financing is in place, with specific sales records to be formed between the end of 2025 and 2026.
The Mole brand has not yet entered the Chinese market, nor are there official records of Chinese localized production or sales channels.
Mole’s technical route has different focuses at different development stages, comprehensively presenting four core technical features: lightweight engineering, modular platform, environmentally friendly materials, and forward-looking power.
Full Carbon Fiber Lightweight Engineering Technology: Mole Automobile’s most core technical asset is reflected in the Almas model as a complete carbon fiber monocoque body, supported by Adler Group. Carbon fiber chassis paired with full carbon body shell, significantly reducing overall vehicle weight while increasing body rigidity and torsional strength. This technology achieved compact integration through custom molds and design with few physical connecting parts.
Modular Four-Wheeler Platform: Mole Urbana’s core competitiveness lies in developing an extensible micro electric vehicle platform, deriving 11 different purpose vehicle model plans from the same chassis architecture, including two-seater passenger, four-seater passenger, pickup, commercial van, refrigerated transport vehicle, and other modifications. This platform features high parts sharing rate, short development cycle, and low manufacturing cost.
High Proportion of Recyclable Materials and Low Energy Consumption Manufacturing: Mole Urbana integrates sustainability from materials to production process. Vehicle uses structural parts made of aluminum recovered from soda cans, recycled ABS, and stainless steel recycled metal, interior panels use recycled wood. Interior design avoids using glue and foam fillers, allowing each component to be easily disassembled and classified for recycling at the end of its life. Manufacturing process discards large stamping machines and plastic injection molding equipment, adopting low energy consumption processes such as wire drawing, extrusion, and thermoforming, avoiding high temperature and high energy consumption processes. When renovating the factory, green environmental protection schemes are emphasized, including removing asbestos roof tiles and replacing them with 8,000 square meters of photovoltaic power generation panels.
Hydrogen Power Forward Architecture (Almas): The 2019 Almas concept car is the most prominent technical demonstration of Mole brand’s hydrogen power direction. Design leaves room for hydrogen fuel cell system or conventional gasoline engine dual route compatible schemes. Coupled with carbon fiber lightweight body, it can achieve performance potential comparable to Ferrari-level vehicles.
Mole's overseas business is centered on Europe, where it conducts global brand display and exposure through international motor shows such as the Geneva Motor Show and the Turin Motor Show. Mole Automobile has not yet established substantial overseas production or sales networks; its product exports mainly rely on private custom customer channels.
Mole Urbana’s supplier network originated in the Italian Marche region and has gradually expanded, establishing a stable supply chain system in collaboration with local industrialists, financiers, and investors. Currently, the brand has completed the renovation of two manufacturing bases in the Piedmont region and Fabriano in the Marche region. All vehicles are produced according to the principles of Italian localized design, development, and manufacturing. Except for battery cells imported from China, 99% of the components come from the local Italian area. The high growth of micro electric vehicle sales in the European market during 2023 and the first half of 2024 provided a favorable environment for Mole Urbana. The brand’s goal in the European micro electric vehicle market is to quickly expand its product lines for different usage scenarios through its modular platform, targeting logistics “last mile” delivery and urban commuting. However, the Mole brand currently has no clear entry plans for Asia or North America.
As of 2026, the Mole brand is at a key stage of strategic repositioning and capital mobilization, with its two entities diverging in their development directions.
Mole Urbana carries the brand’s most promising future prospects. After securing 3.5 million euros in financing, the brand has begun the construction and renovation of two factories, planning to enter the limited production stage for micro cars. The release of the Malya concept car at the end of 2025 reflects the brand’s intention to evolve toward a "higher-level urban car," attempting to bridge the gap between four-wheeled motorcycles and urban micro cars while awaiting new policy windows for European K-Car-type regulations from the European Union. The brand’s long-term goal is to simultaneously target two segments—urban logistics and passenger transport—through its modular platform and green production chain. Leveraging the momentum of the European micro electric vehicle market, which grew by over 30% in 2023–2024, Mole Urbana strives to smoothly transition from the startup phase to small-scale mass production and generate preliminary revenue.
In contrast, the prospects for Mole Automobile are relatively dim. After the release of the Almas concept car, it did not enter mass production. 2019 marked the brand’s last large-scale international display in the high-performance supercar direction, with no public information on new-generation supercar concepts or mass production projects since then. Regarding its custom modification business, cooperation with Alfa Romeo and Fiat was most active between 2017 and 2018, but project leads decreased afterward. In the short term, the high investment and risk associated with the Italian niche supercar market may lead Mole Automobile’s mid-to-long-term plans to focus more on virtual design and concept displays rather than physical manufacturing. Under the general trend of electrification and environmental sustainability, Mole’s brand resources are highly likely to concentrate on the Mole Urbana project, which has greater commercial implementation capabilities. This shift aims to transform the brand from a "design-driven" entity into a "product and mass production-driven" one.
© 2024 Bitauto.com. All Rights Reserved.
Bitauto (www.yiche.com and www.bitauto.com) is one of the most visited automotive websites in China. We provide detailed info on Chinese car brands available in your area. Please note that the information provided on this website is based on publicly available data and is for reference only. It may not be fully updated or accurate at all times.
