Volkswagen AG is set to buy a majority hold of the biggest engineering and design firm in Italy, the Italdesign Giugiaro S.p.A. according to a report filed by Automotive News.
According to industry sources, an announcement might be made by the German carmaker next week. However, representatives of both VW and Italdesign opted not to comment about the issue.
The acquisition is a logical step for VW which plans to conquer the top spot as a car manufacturer by 2018 with sales figures hitting 10 million units annually. In order to hit that target, the 10 brands of Volkswagen like Porsche, will be in need of more engineers and designers. This year alone, VW is planning to rack up their range by 60 models more.
Italdesign was co-established by Giorgetto Giugiaro back in 1968. It has 975 employees currently and makes use of about 800 computer design stations. Most of its workforce and equipment are based in their head office in Moncalieri just 15 kilometers from Turin.
Italdesign is a private entity owned and managed by Giorgetto Giugiaro who is now 71 years old. Fabrizio Giugiaro, the co-founder’s son, heads the model and design division. Both top executives are expected to continue working for the company even after the takeover of VW.
Some of the recent car models to come out with the fingerprints of Italdesign are Alfa Romeo’s 159 sedan and its station wagon version, Brera coupe; Fiat’s Idea and Grande Punto; and the SX4 from Suzuki.
Most of the engineering works by Italdesign are kept confidential by the company but it is their clients who make their works public.
In the recent past, only their project with BMW had the go signal to get public credit. This was specifically the design work for the second gen Mini versions convertible, hatchback, and the Clubman wagon.
Also in their portfolio are previous works like the C3 Pluriel which is a small Citroen convertible and different versions of the compact Renault Megane. The design firm also worked on the Audi 80, VW Scirocco and Passat; VW entire range of W12 concept sports cars; some Seat units, and the concept cars for the Bugatti rebirth under VW.
Source: Automotive News
