Out Of Italy

In keeping with the times, Giugiaro has a management mantra of his own. Rather than singular automobile designs, he focuses on total automotive solutions without sacrificing form to function. And he makes a radical departure from his contemporaries and design studios like Pininfarina, Zagato and Ghia by providing all the back-up that the automobile industry needs in terms of styling, models, creating prototypes and engineering.

In the Italy of the 60s, a business-like approach to car design wasnt strictly playing the game. But if there was one thing Giugiaro understood better than the lines of a car, it was the need for levels of support for the industry.

 

The result is there for everyone to drive. No less than 42 production cars were conceived and designed by Italdesign, the firm that Giugiaro set up in 1968 with entrepreneur Alberto Mantovani. While other design houses flaunted their low volume super cars and one-off prototypes, Italdesign went on to become a scientific organisation respected by 32 automobile manufacturers around the globe. He elevated what was part of a coach building cottage industry into a modern automotive and industrial design playground.

Giugiaros business sense is surprising if you consider that hes the son of a painter and the grandson of a musician. He has carried on the family tradition in other ways, though. Born in 1938 in Garessio, he studied at several draughtmanship schools, and went on to become a figurative art student at the Turin Fine Arts Academy.

He joined the Fiat styling centre when he was all of 17 years old, and worked alongside Dante Giacosa for the next four years. That was good enough to catapult him to the head of styling at the Carozzeria Bertone, the famed designers of many a Maranello car. He topped his training with a few crucial years under the wing of the legendary Nuccio Bertone. Then he turned his attention to the trifling matter of carving out a niche for himself on the Turin design scene. He first made his name with designs for both concept cars Testudo, Canguro, Ferrari 250 GT, Maserati 5000 GT and a very British Aston Martin DB4 as well as production models like the Alfa Romeo 2000/2600 Sprint and Giulia GT, Fiat 850 Spider, BMW 3200CS and the Fiat Dino coupe.

In 1965, the siren song of a rejuvenated industry became too hard to ignore, and Giugiaro left Bertone to become manager of the Styling and Design Centre at Carozzeria Ghia. At the Turin Motor Show, Ghia unveiled an all new Maserati Ghibli and Mangusta. He also unleashed some of the prettiest prototypes ever to wear the Fiat badge, including the Fiat 850 Vanessa, specially designed for women drivers. That year, his production cars included the Isuzu 117 Coupe and the Iso Rivolta.

Three years after the Turin Motor Show, Giugiaro went independent setting up Italdesign in partnership with Mantovani, who remains managing director to this day. The rest is history. Under the Italdesign trademark Giugiaro has designed over 120 cars (including more than 70 production models), besides developing many others under wraps for the worlds top manufacturers.

Giugiaro-designed production sports cars include the Maserati Bora and the Merak, the legendary Lotus Esprit, the Alfa GTV and the BMW M1 (built by Lamborghini) to mention a few. And many famous auto families like the Audi 80 -100 series owe their basic shape to Italdesign.

Of course, he was the obvious choice when Volkswagen wanted to get away from the Beetle. He provided the German company with its trendsetting new-look cars for the 70s. And he was responsible for the Passat, the Scirocco and the Golf, which won acclaim the world over. All three series run even today, with different forms but very similar concepts. The Golf, Europes best seller for years, was built to an amazing 6.5 million units.

The 80s was the decade of the Fiat, which was growing stronger than ever. Barring Lamborghini, most of the automotive brands were now effectively in the small car makers bag. The Italdesign tie-up with the big boss resulted in the creation of an all-new Lancia range of automobiles, which included the Delta, Prisma and Thema. The Lancia Delta was the car of the year in Europe in 1980.

But the Italdesign designs that made waves across the small car industry and took the Fiat war into the Japanese camp were the Fiat Panda and the Uno. In fact, Uno reversed the fortunes forever in favour of Fiat. The fact that it got around 3 lakh bookings in India 13 years after its introduction is testimony of the staying power of a Giugiaro design.

When Italdesign was in charge, there were no compromises on the various design aspects. The external shapes of the small cars designed by Giugiaro belied the interior room, forcing the Japanese to go back to school.

Giugiaros advanced research prototypes included everything from neo-retro super cars to micro cars. The Biga, a city car and the Lucciola, both hybrid prototypes with electric traction, reveal Giugiaros sensitivity to the pressing problem of the environment, while his Bugatti EB12 won the widest critical acclaim. The EB 12 (EB for Ettore Bugatti) carried over many traditional Bugatti design hints from the 30s but the complete car was a stunner without being extravagant. Over the years Giugiaro has also developed the space-wagon theme with the New York Taxi, the Megagamma, the Capsula and the Columbus. The last, one of the most admired mini-van prototypes ever to tour the motorshow circus, had a double deck platform.

Not all Giugiaro creations stuck to terra firma. In the aeronautics sector he conceived the design and interior trim of the A 109 Hirundo and the now famous Sikorskyy Bell helicopters for Agusta Construzioni Aeronautiche, while also coming up with the interior of for Alitalias Airbus A 321 fleet. In the nautical field Giugiaro has collaborated on the design of offshore boats (Cantieri Tullio abbate), motor yachts (Baglientto), cruise ships and ferries (Temporary Centure Corporation, Tokyo).

Awards have come in without pause throughout Giugiaros career the most prestigious include the SIAD Silver Medal of the British Society of Artists and Industrial Designers (1980) and the special ADI Gold Compass or coachwork design (1984). In the same year the Royal College of Art in London bestowed him with an honorary degree in design, in acknowledgment of the great esteem his work commands in UK.

Today Giugiaros design skills are solicited internationally. There are many millionaires who would love to have the master craftsmans signature on a yacht or a motorhome that would be the last word in exclusivity. But to this skiing enthusiast who competes in trials and downhill events whenever he gets a chance, the ultimate satisfaction is to see one amongst the millions of Unos or Golfs passing by.

As one Giugiaro axiom has it, good design does not cost the earth. Fortunately the world has not seen him as one of those mass production exponents, but as a genius who has contributed to the holistic development of modern design.