I’m following a developing story, but word out of Italy is that Audi is moving to offload the long and storied design firm Italdesign, a subsidiary of the Ingolstadt-based company. According to Automotive News, the move is part of an effort by Volkswagen Group to cut operating costs given tumultuous business conditions.
According to reports, the move was announced internally on May 5 during a meeting at Italdesign’s Turin headquarters attended by over 1,000 employees report Italian newspaper Coriere della Sera.
Italidesign was founded in 1960 by Giorgetto Giugiaro and Aldo Mantovani. Over the decades since, the firm has built a gargantuan portfolio of design work in the form of automobiles, other transportation and also consumer goods. Part of that portfolio includes several notable Audi designs including the 1973 Asso di Picche concept car and also (depending on who you ask) the B2 Audi 80 sedan that hit the market in 1978. Volkswagen has its own rich history of work with Italdesign, including the Golf Mk1, Scirocco Mk1 and Passat B1.
In the 1960s-1980s, a time period all of those designs stemmed from, the design firms located in the “Design Valley of Turin” were highly influential in supplying designs to the most competitive car manufacturers. The decades since have been a challenge for most, seeing Pininfarina sell to Mahindra and Bertone closed outright.
Italdesign was a bit is a standout, having diversified its services to also include architecture design, railway and sustainable mobility design and prototyping for other sectors. In addition to its own concept cars, it’s known that Italdesign has been involved in the production of others, cars like the 2011 quattro concept for which Italdesign provided final assembly.
The firm was acquired by Audi AG in 2010, and reportedly placed under Lamborghini’s control, which is how it ended up under Audi and thus Volkswagen. It is just one of several Italian businesses Audi controls, including the aforementioned Lamborghini sportscar brand and Ducati motorcycles.
According to the Coriere della Sera report, Italdesign isn’t ailing. In fact, the company has been focused on growth and has been turning a profit. Perhaps then, for the Volkswagen Group, the move is more to lower its operating costs and get back its equity. The company’s assets are worth $286 million according to the piece.