Selling Style: Why Audi Might Be Letting Go of Italdesign

By Team Dailyrevs  

Selling Style: Why Audi Might Be Letting Go of Italdesign

  • Audi is reportedly preparing to sell Italdesign as part of a €10 billion cost-cutting strategy.

  • With carmakers bringing design and prototyping in-house, third-party design studios are losing relevance.

  • Italdesign doesn’t fit the boutique builder model—especially not inside VW Group’s already-crowded brand portfolio.

A Name That Once Moved the Industry

Founded by Giorgetto Giugiaro in 1968, Italdesign has been a force behind everything from the first-generation Volkswagen Golf to the DeLorean DMC-12 and the original Audi 80. When VW Group (via Audi) acquired it in 2010, it was seen as a long-term move to secure design and prototyping excellence inside the Group.

But the auto industry has shifted. Dramatically.

The In-House Imperative

Today, design has become intellectual property. More than just aesthetics, it is deeply tied to user interfaces, EV architectures, and brand identity. Car companies—especially tech-forward ones—don’t want to share those blueprints with anyone, least of all a studio owned by a rival group.

This has made Italdesign’s position increasingly awkward. With nearly every VW brand now operating its own advanced design studio, Italdesign’s scope within the Group has narrowed. And externally, few brands are willing to hand their visions to a studio under VW's corporate umbrella.

In essence, what once made Italdesign powerful—its prestige and Group access—now makes it redundant.

Could Italdesign Go Boutique?

There’s a natural question: if the studio no longer fits as a supplier, why not follow the Pininfarina or Bertone model and become a boutique manufacturer?

Italdesign has tried. The Nissan GT-R50 by Italdesign was a limited-run supercar based on the R35 GT-R platform, cloaked in a bespoke carbon-fiber skin. It was bold, expensive, and reportedly sold in small numbers to collectors.

But here’s the catch: to build a sustainable business around rebodied supercars, you need two things—deep-pocketed clients and a steady stream of orders. In a world already packed with boutique players offering carbon-bodied dreams (Pagani, Koenigsegg, Ares, Kimera, and now even Bertone), Italdesign was another high-end name chasing the same small pie.

And inside Volkswagen Group, there’s no appetite for another brand.
With Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, Porsche, Bugatti (now largely spun off to Rimac), Cupra, Ducati, and even Scout EV preparing to enter production, the Group doesn’t have bandwidth—strategically or financially—for another low-volume supercar experiment. Italdesign, as a boutique brand, simply doesn’t have a parking spot.

Design Studios Are Going Solo—and Selling Cars

While Italdesign hits a ceiling, others are taking flight.

Pininfarina, the former Ferrari design partner, now sells the 1,900-hp Battista electric hypercar—a halo product for the Mahindra-backed brand. It’s a car that repositions Pininfarina from stylists to makers.

Bertone, now under new ownership, has launched the GB110, a coachbuilt reimagining of classic Italian flair, followed by the Runabout Targa and Barchetta—retro-styled speedsters echoing the brand’s most daring concept work.

And then there's GFG Style, founded by Italdesign’s original creators Giorgetto and Fabrizio Giugiaro after their departure in 2015. Their recent reveal—the Peralta S, a one-off based on the Maserati MC20 and built for Mexican collector Carlos Peralta—proves that design houses can still build, sell, and matter… if they operate independently.

But the real wildcard? Hyundai.
In 2023, Hyundai collaborated with GFG Style to bring back the Hyundai Pony Coupe Concept, originally designed by Giugiaro in 1974 but never produced. The reborn concept wasn't just a tribute—it was a public declaration of admiration and legacy.

That project rekindled a direct link between Hyundai and the Giugiaro family, showcasing Hyundai’s willingness to invest in design heritage—and potentially, to acquire it.

If Italdesign is sold, Hyundai could be a dark horse contender, particularly if they see strategic brand equity in owning one of Italy’s most storied design houses. It’s not impossible to imagine Hyundai backing GFG Style to buy back Italdesign, closing the loop while boosting its global design firepower.

See also: Hyundai Pony Coupe Concept Reborn (scroll to concept listings)


Union Pushback and Strategic Silence

Audi’s union, for its part, has voiced clear opposition. As per the Group Works Council:

"We are strongly opposed to a sale of Italdesign. A purely profit-driven sale is the wrong way to go.”

But from Audi and VW Group management, there’s been radio silence—an absence that often speaks volumes.

If the rumors are true, the decision has already been made. The only question left: who gets the keys?

Who Might Buy Italdesign?

If Italdesign is truly on the market, it’s unlikely to go to a traditional OEM. More likely candidates include:

  • Private equity firms betting on legacy cachet and engineering talent.

  • EV startups needing instant credibility and design know-how.

  • Asian automakers—Hyundai or Geely could see strategic value in acquiring Italian design heritage.

  • GFG Style, as a poetic full-circle move, could absorb its predecessor with external financial backing.

Final Thoughts: The Shape of Things to Come

What Italdesign is experiencing isn’t just corporate restructuring—it’s a design industry recalibration. The brands that used to sketch for others now need to sketch for themselves—or build what they draw.

Italdesign didn’t fail. The business model did.

As automakers lock down design IP and studios turn into micro-manufacturers, there’s little room for in-betweeners—especially those owned by sprawling conglomerates with more brands than garages.

If Italdesign is sold, it may finally be free to do what it was always meant to: create without compromise. But whether the industry—and the market—has room for that vision again, remains to be seen.