Volkswagen purchases ItalDesign Giugiaro

The takeover was completed through Lamborghini Holding S.p.A, a subsidiary of Audi, which comes under the Volkswagen Group. Lamborghini will have a 90.1 percent stake in the design firm, while the remaining 9.9 percent will be controlled by the Giugiaro family. ItalDesign Giugiaro currently has a workforce of 800 employees, and generates sales of about US$122 million.

According to Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen, "With this shareholding in Italdesign, we are participating in one of the most renowned design and development companies with one of the richest traditions in the automobile industry."

He added, "The Volkswagen Group will be continuing its model initiative over the coming years and will benefit from the capacity and competence of Italdesign. The company will therefore be making an important contribution to our 2018 global growth strategy."

Italdesign's Giorgetto Giugiaro said: "Becoming part of the Volkswagen Group means revaluating ourselves and our strength. Entering Volkswagen means to open up a promising perspective for the company." The design firm has previously worked with Volkswagen on several models, such as the first generation Golf, as well as concept versions of the Passat, Scirocco and Audi 80, and the Seat Toledo and Volkswagen W12 sports car concept. ItalDesign Giugiaro is currently designing the production version of the Volkswagen Up! concept.