Sponsors

Candy

Eden Fumagalli was a wellknown precision engineer in Monza when in 1945, looking for new products for the post-war era, he decided to design an automatic washing machine. The new machine was launched at the Milan Fair in 1946 and once in production enjoyed great success. Growth was rapid and under Fumagalli's sons Enzo, Niso and Peppino the company began to diversify, introducing the for first washing machine with a spin dryer in 1954. This was followed by firther innovation and expansion and in 1965 the company moved into dishwashers and later expanded further with cookers, air conditioning units, fridges and freezers. By the 1970s Candy had begun acquiring other companies, beginning an alliance with America's Kelvinator company which resulted in the purchase of that company. As part of the international expansion the company decided to enter Formula 1 and in May 1979 took over the sponsorship for the Tyrrell team, which had just lost Elf and First National backing. The team ran Jean-Pierre Jarier and Didier Pironi and enjoyed same success and the backing continued in 1980 but in 1981 decided to switch to Toleman. The company was later involved with Ligier but then withdrew from F1 and concentrated on exploiting its brandname. In 1987 it bought the French cooker company Rosieres and followed up with the acquisition in 1992 of Otsein, an important Spanish washing machine company and in 1993 the refrigeration business Iberna. The biggest purchase came in 1995 when Candy acquired the European operations of Hoover.

The company, which is still run by the Fumagalli Family, now makes more than 2000 different models.