White though it is, his hair is just as thick as ever and, although a little portlier around the waist, the man has retained the same distinctive charm and elegance. Forty years after the first design to bear his name, Giorgetto Giugiaro is as enthusiastic as always and eager to unveil his latest creation. Today, however, he does so together with his son Fabrizio Giugiaro, who now manages the company founded four decades ago. The event, held at the last Geneva motor show, was called ‘Quaranta’.
How do you go about developing a prototype to celebrate Italdesign’s fortieth anniversary? What theme best represents forty years of innovation and forty years of creativity in style and architecture, embracing all forms of the car, from the city car to the GT? These questions were discussed by the design team together with Giorgetto and Fabrizio Giugiaro. Lastly, what creation could represent forty years at the pinnacle of the automotive industry?
Obviously, the car would have to express the very essence of the designer’s job. At the helm of his company, Giorgetto Giugiaro has always admirably succeeded in maintaining a balance between the two facets of his craft in a harmony of aesthetics and engineering, passion and reason and art and industry – or, in other terms, style and design.
The Quaranta is a direct reference to the first prototype to bear the ‘Ital Design’ badge (two separate words at the time), the Manta. The Quaranta inherits the nature, good looks, spirit and, as a result, the general architecture of its forebear. This car is a mid-engined sports coupé with a centrally positioned driver’s seat. The general idea of the style is a monolithic sculpture – like the Manta – expressed in a very subtle aesthetic language.
The article continues in Auto & Design no. 170
