Automotive design firm Italdesign may be sold by owner Audi as the Volkswagen Group seeks to tighten its financial belt.
Union sources in Italy have told Corriere della Sera Audi has taken the first steps to offloading the famed automotive design firm, with Italdesign undergoing due diligence and valuation.
Although no potential buyers have been named, a meeting has been scheduled with Italdesign employees for May 12 at the company’s headquarters at Moncalieri, a suburb on the southern fringe of Turin. The company currently employs around 1000 people in studios across the world, including Italy, Spain, Germany, China and the United States.
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Audi’s move to offload Italdesign is part of a wider push within the Volkswagen Group to cut costs and free up cash due to softening sales across Europe and increasing competition from Chinese automakers.
As part of its cost-cutting efforts, in February Audi closed its factory in Brussels, where it had been making the Q8 e-tron and Q8 e-tron Sportback. It will also reduce its workforce in Germany by 7500 people by the end of 2029.
Once one of the most profitable parts of the Volkswagen Group, Audi’s operating margin fell to just 1.5 per cent in the first quarter of this year; automakers typically see 6 to 8 per cent as a good figure.
Italdesign was founded in 1968 by designer Giorgetto Giugiaro and engineer Aldo Mantovani. The company’s extensive credit roll includes a clutch of iconic supercars, including the DMC DeLoren, Lotus Esprit, and the BMW M1 supercar.
One could argue Italdesign’s work at the more affordable end of the spectrum has been even more influential, with the original Volkswagen Golf, and Fiat Panda, Punto and Uno are all penned by the company.
Other credits include the first-generation Daewoo Matiz, Hyundai Excel, Lancia Delta, Audi 80, and Lexus GS.
Volkswagen purchased 90 per cent of Italdesign in 2010, with the remaining 10 per cent kept by Giorgetto Giugiaro and his family. In order to keep its Italian holdings together, Italdesign was placed with Lamborghini under Audi’s ownership.
The Giugiaro and his son sold their remaining stake to Volkswagen in 2015, and left the firm to setup their own design consultancy.
Under Volkswagen ownership Italdesign continued to work with other automakers, although the volume of commissioned products has slowed significantly. Cars developed since 2010 include the Audi Q2, the limited edition Nissan GT-R50, and the Voyah Free for Chinese automaker Dongfeng.
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