Volkswagen To Buy Giorgetto Giugiaro
When I did my first copywriting jobs for Volkswagen in 1973, I heard to my great amazement that the Passat wasn’t designed in Wolfsburg. It was designed in Turin (“Isn’t that where Fiat is?” “Don’t ask stupid questions, Schmitt”) by someone called Giorgetto Giugiaro. Lo and behold, the Golf thereafter looked a little bit like the Fiat 128, but nobody cared. Volkswagen and Giugiaro‘s Italdesign worked together ever since. Now Volkswagen will buy a controlling stake in Italdesign, if industry sources who whispered it to Automotive News[sub] are not totally mistaken. If the deal happens (and an announcement could come next week), Volkswagen will formalize old friendships.
In Germany, Automobilwoche [sub] reports that Ferdinand Piech is well connected with Italy’s largest design house. What’s more, “Martin Winterkorn and his chief designer Walter de Silva are old friends of the Giugiaros,” said a VW-insider to Automobilwoche. Not too long ago, Winterkorn had said that “Volkswagen wants and needs to recruit the brightest.” In this year alone, Volkswagen will introduce nearly 70 new models.
Italdesign has 975 employees, working on 800 computer CAD workstations at the company’s headquarters in Moncalieri, 15km south of Turin. The company is owned by Giorgetto Giugiaro, 71, and his son Fabrizio, 45. Having worked for nearly every European carmaker (and some Far-Eastern also,) Italdesign represents the highest concentration of design know-how money can buy.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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Simply great designs. Giugiaro was for VW what Bruno Sacco was for Mercedes. Consequent "less is more" design. Still up to date. But what's the rationale behind VW's decision? They already should have some designers?
Has Giugiaro ever drawn a car that didn't age well? My personal Italdesign favorite is the original Lotus Esprit.
Feel free to do a review of the first generation Scirocco. Please.
"In this year alone, Volkswagen will introduce nearly 70 new models." That sounds like an awful lot. How is that figured? 7 new models times 10 sedan/hatch/wagon/microvan/cute-ute configurations?