Italdesign, one of Italy’s most iconic automotive design firms, may soon change hands as Parent company, Audi, intensifies its cost-cutting measures. According to a recent report by Italian publication Corriere della Sera, employees were informed during a company-wide meeting on May 5, at its Moncalieri headquarters, that the firm was officially on the market. This move comes as part of a broader restructuring effort after Audi had a challenging 2024 with a variety of contributing factors, including sluggish EV sales and intensifying competition both in Europe and China.
Lamborghini, under Audi ownership, acquired a 90.1% stake in Italdesign back in 2010. A complete takeover of the company took place in 2015, after the famed Giorgetto Giugiaro and his son sold their remaining 10%. Founded in 1968 by Giugiaro and Aldo Mantovani, Italdesign has earned a reputation for penning some of history’s most celebrated and beautiful cars.
Their automotive portfolio to date spans more than 180 designs, ranging from exotics like the Maserati MC12, Lamborghini Gallardo, BMW M1, DeLorean DMC-12 to everyday models like the Mk-1 VW Golf and Fiat Panda. One of the more recent projects that garnered international headlines was the GT-R50 NISMO collaboration with Nissan in 2018, where the company was tasked with designing a 50th anniversary special for both firms. Over the decades, Italdesign has expanded its services beyond automotive to other avenues of product and transportation design.
While the company remains profitable under current CEO Antonio Casu, reporting €286 million in assets, €145 million in revenue, and €20 million in profits in 2023, the vast majority of its contracts depend on the Volkswagen Group, with only 15% of its turnover coming from external sources. This casts a shadow on the company’s future.
The situation in Italy’s design valley, once a hotbed for coach builders, shows a broader trend of declining demand for exterior design services. Pininfarina, Italdesign’s long-term rival, was acquired by Indian conglomerate Mahindra & Mahindra in 2015. Bertone, another big name in from the Valley also filed for bankruptcy in 2014. Now owned by Ideactive, it sets to relaunch as a brand focused on luxury and high-performance vehicles.
It is worth noting that VW hasn’t officially announced the sale of Italdesign, and a follow-up meeting is scheduled for May 19 with a delegation from the Industrial Union of Turin, which should give us more details. No potential buyers have surfaced so far, but Corriere della Sera added that engineering multinationals could be on the cards.
Source: Corriere della Sera
