Few designers have been as influential in the creation of modern automobiles as Giorgetto Giugiaro. In his 64-year career, he has designed some of the most successful and influential cars in history, from 4,444 unique exotics to the popular SUVs he still drives at the age of 81.
The Origins of the Delorean Style
Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro is the most successful and influential car in history. This is the concept of the 1969 Alfa Romeo iguana, one of the cars inspired by DeLorean Giugiaro’s design ten years later, along with the 1970 Porsche Tapiro concept.
Birth Of The Legend
Giugiaro was born in Garessio, about 60 miles south of Tern, in 1938. It was the perfect time and place for the boy who was a talented designer. Fiat, Italy’s leading automaker, an hour away, and the country’s economic boom after the war coincided with the arrival of Giugiaro’s era. In fact, Giugiaro joined FIAT as early as possible at the age of 17, but not because of his passion for painting cars.
In a phone call at his Montcalieri studio near Turin, he said: “He got into the car not as a passion, but as part of the creative process.”
Politicians confiscated a massive $13 million car collection at auction. However, his father realized that he was more of a technical person and might one day go to art school, and Evening Technical Design. FIAT Head coach Dante Giacosa saw a draft of him, bought a car and hired it as a young designer. “I joined FIAT in 1955 and gained experience outside the art world that he could manage. This experience was more valuable than school and gave me confidence in a creative experiment.”
After years at Fiat, Nuccio Bertone became aware of the work of Giugiaro, one of the most influential bus manufacturers to emerge in Turin at the time, including Ghia, Pininfarina and Vignale. The Bertone company became famous for making beautiful cars for other manufacturers and hired Giugiaro on some great projects.
“I saw the first prototype Bertone built in 1960: the GordonKeeble GT, Alfa Romeo 2600 and Giulia GT. This prototype was completed when he was asked to serve in the army. I was 22 years old.”
Classic 1963 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT and one of Bertone’s first Giugiaro designs for the Bologna 2017 race 1963 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT classic and Bertone’s first Giugiaro for the 2017 Bologna race Giugiaro, which manufactures for brands such as BMW, Mazda and Ferrari, has changed He returned to business in 1965 and merged with Bertone, whose rival was Kia. He designed two of the most beautiful cars out there: the Maserati Gibli and De Tomaso Mangusta.
Classic Car Chase Film reproduced in surreal aerial photography, the passenger door often opens and features a uniquely stylish design.
as engine and trunk leaf doors. This is Bill’s car from Kill Bill Volume 2 from Gone in 60 Seconds and Kylie Minogue’s video for “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”
Italidesign Era
In 1967, With 12 years of experience, Giugiaro founded his own design company Italdesign and has been actively involved in the production of a number of cars, including some of the world’s most successful cars. As a designer, he preferred this type of work. “As a mass-produced car, as a project, there are many variables: timing, cost, feasibility, oversight, marketing, creative aspects, etc. It’s not complicated and it’s somewhere in between all these variables.”
Bentley celebrates its 100th anniversary on stage with the launch of a new futuristic concept car. “Everyone wants the hedonistic car, but rarely; It was made for advertising purposes, so it is much easier to construct and has a more complex structure.”
In 1974 he was asked to design a successor to the Volkswagen Beetle, and as a result the first generation Golf, known as the rabbit in America, is the Giugiaro’s “origami age” with sharp, right-angled lines. . This will have an impact on the next generation of automotive design and will be one of the biggest success stories in the automotive world. More than 30 million seventh-generation Golfers have been sold to date and remain the undisputed leader in the field.
Despite his fame, Giugiaro has kept his profile low. “When Volkswagen asked me if I wanted to put the Giugiaro logo on every golf course they build, I said no. Sending thousands of icons every day will cost you more than you get for the whole project! When people buy a car, often not interested in who designed it. Cars are not works of art. Art has authority, but cars have no authority.”
Movie Icons
In 1976, he designed the Esprit for British automaker Lotus, which made the James Bond car and turned it into a submarine in The Spy Who Loved Me the following year. Elon Musk bought the same car used in the underwater scenes of the movie for about $1 million in 2013.
“I never thought it would be used as a movie car.” said. “The stainless steel looked unpainted because DeLorean didn’t want to spend money on painting equipment, but that’s okay. It’s nice to remember what I designed. ”
Shortly thereafter, Giugiaro designed the DeLorean two-door coupe, introduced in 1981. This coupe was immortalized when Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale chose to drive Marty McFly in Back to the Future in 1985. Giugiaro was based on DeLorean based on Tapiro. , a concept car he made for Porsche in 1970. It had the same wedge shape and, more importantly, a stainless steel body with gull-wing doors.
“I never thought it would be used as a movie car.” said. “Although DeLorean chose stainless steel because it didn’t want to spend money on painting equipment, the unpainted look was not without problems. It’s nice that someone is thinking about what I’m designing.”
During the same period, in a fruitful collaboration with Fiat, he designed two inexpensive and compact cars for the Italian automaker the famous Uno and the Panda from the 1980s. The rough basic design Panda Giugiaro was the complete opposite of a bedroom promotional car in its life, but now attracts fans, especially the “4x4” version. In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa in 1980, Giugiaro described Panda as “jeans: simple, practical clothing with no frills”.
Beyond Just Car Designs
Giugiaro’s design goes beyond the automotive industry with Italdesign’s industrial design division, founded in 1974. He has since developed a Nikon F5 camera, Riyadh Metro, a professional coffee machine, dental chair, several Beretta guns and a sewing machine. , watches, tractors, motorcycles, the Juventus football team stadium in Turin, and perhaps the most unexpected kind of pasta, Marille.
“This is a good way to fill the dead end between car projects, but the creative process and technology are exactly the same as cars and there is no difference. It gives you more freedom as you avoid a car control hell full of rules and regulations,” Giugiaro said.
Giugiaro is no longer affiliated with Italdesign after Volkswagen made its debut in 2010 through its subsidiary Audi and subsequently bought the remaining 10% in 2015. But he still designs cars. One of his latest creations, unveiled at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show in honor of his 80th birthday, features an electric concept called the Sybilla (named after his mother, Maria Sibilla).
Every time he sees his work, a simple idea comes to him: I always think about the future and do things that I could not do before. So in a way, even when I’m not working, I’m still working.”
But there are things that he wanted to design but could not find the opportunity to do. “I want to design airplanes.”
It’s not too late, Mr. Giugiaro.
