Italdesign Giugiaro
Car design and engineering studio founded in Moncalieri in 1968 by Giorgetto Giugiaro and Aldo Mantovani, creator of the Golf, the Panda and the DeLorean.
Italdesign Giugiaro, today simply Italdesign, is a car design and engineering company based in Moncalieri, at via Achille Grandi 21, in the Metropolitan City of Turin[1]. Founded in 1968 by Giorgetto Giugiaro and Aldo Mantovani, it has designed and developed some of the most widespread cars of the second half of the twentieth century, from the Volkswagen Golf to the Fiat Panda, and its founder is considered one of the greatest car designers of the twentieth century[2][3].
The founding
Giugiaro, born in Garessio, in the Cuneo area, in 1938, had worked from 1955 to 1965 as a technical draughtsman in FIAT's styling centre, before moving to the Bertone and Ghia coachbuilders[3][4]. In 1968 he decided to go out on his own: the company was founded under the name Studi Italiani Realizzazione Prototipi S.p.A., based in Moncalieri[2]. Alongside him were the engineer Aldo Mantovani and, according to Treccani, a third partner, L. Bosio; the firm was set up as a design studio for the car industry[4]. What set it apart from traditional coachbuilders was the idea of offering manufacturers a complete service, summed up by the Turin press in the formula «creativity, engineering and production start-up»[5].
The cars of the Seventies and Eighties
The first major project was the Alfasud for Alfa Romeo. For the Volkswagen group the Moncalieri studio went on to design, in the Seventies, the Passat, the Scirocco and the first Golf, as well as the Audi 80[2][5]. There followed, for Fiat, the Fiat Panda, the Uno (presented in 1983), the Croma, the Duna and later the Punto, and for Lancia the Delta, the Prisma and the Thema[5][6].
Its clients were international: the BMW M1, the Saab 9000, the SEAT Ibiza, the Renault 19 and the Hyundai Lantra all came off the drawing boards in Moncalieri[4]. In 1981 the DeLorean DMC-12 was unveiled, the steel car with gull-wing doors that cinema would later make famous through Back to the Future[2][3]. In 2018, on the founder's eightieth birthday, it was reckoned that more than two hundred production models had been born at Italdesign and that around 50 million vehicles designed by the studio were on the road worldwide[5]. On that occasion Il Post wrote that Giugiaro is considered
«one of the most important car designers of the twentieth century, if not the most important»
and noted that Giugiaro led Italdesign until 2015[3].
Beyond the car
From 1971 the studio added an industrial design division alongside its car work, made independent in 1981 as Giugiaro Design: watches, household appliances, footwear and sports equipment[4]. In the Eighties the work expanded to transport design, and in 2003 Giugiaro Architettura was founded, devoted to civil and industrial architecture, interiors, boats and urban redevelopment[2][4]. Over its history the company has received seven Compasso d'Oro awards and more than 390 international design prizes[2].
Within the Volkswagen group
In 2010 Volkswagen AG bought 90.1 per cent of the capital of Italdesign Giugiaro, making it its Italian styling and engineering centre; control passed to Audi through Automobili Lamborghini[2][5][7]. The studio went on working for other brands too: at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, of the seven prototypes presented by Volkswagen, two were entrusted to Giugiaro[8]. In 2015 the Giugiaro family sold the remaining 9.9 per cent to Audi, and in July of that year the founder resigned from all his posts[2][4]. After his departure the company shortened its name to Italdesign and, from 2020, redefined itself as a full-service provider, from idea to small-series production, calling its employees «ideneers», a blend of ideas and engineers[2].
The arrival of UST, and the present
The agreement to sell a majority stake to UST, the American, India-owned multinational specialising in digital transformation, was announced on 10 December 2025; the deal was presented publicly on 7 September 2026[9][10]. On the eve of the announcement Mole24 estimated UST's stake at between 65 and 70 per cent and the company's valuation at around 150 million euros[9]; Audi remains in the capital with a minority stake, which a later article from the same outlet put at around 40 per cent, and no layoffs are planned[7]. Italdesign keeps its name and operational independence, and the new partner aims to bring design and artificial intelligence together[10].
Moncalieri remains the heart of the group, which has around 1,200 employees of 21 nationalities and ten offices around the world[7]. In 2024 revenue hit a record 332 million euros, falling to around 300 million in 2025, still 90 per cent tied to the car industry[9][7]. The company reports more than a hundred prototypes and over three hundred production models to its name, and now also works in aerospace and robotics[1][11]. Together with Pininfarina, it is among the design names behind Vehicle Valley Piemonte, the hub for the car of the future presented in Turin on 27 March 2025[12]. In September 2026, ahead of its sixtieth anniversary in 2028, the studio returned to the city for the Salone Auto Torino (11-13 September) with prototypes and supercars[13].
Pages linking here
Related articles: Giorgetto Giugiaro
Sources
- Italdesign
- Italdesign
- Il Post — 7 August 2018
- Treccani
- Mole24 — 7 August 2018
- Il Post — 4 February 2025
- Mole24 — 11 September 2026
- Il Post — 28 February 2011
- Mole24 — 3 September 2026
- Italdesign — 7 September 2026
- Italdesign — 27 August 2026
- Torino Free — 30 March 2025
- Italdesign — 24 July 2026