Giorgetto Giugiaro (; born 7 August 1938) is an Italian automotive designer. He has worked on

supercar A supercar – also called exotic car – is a loosely defined description of street-legal, high-performance sports cars. Since the 2010s, the term hypercar has come into use for the highest performing supercars. Supercars commonly serve as t ...

s and popular everyday vehicles. He was born in Garessio,

Cuneo Cuneo (; pms, Coni ; oc, Coni/Couni ; french: Coni ) is a city and '' comune'' in Piedmont, Northern Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the fourth largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres (1,804 ft) ...

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. Giugiaro was named

Car Designer of the Century The Car Designer of the Century was an international award given to the most influential car designer of the 20th century. The election process was overseen by the Global Automotive Elections Foundation. The winner, Giorgetto Giugiaro, was announ ...

in 1999 and inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2002. In addition to cars, Giugiaro designed camera bodies for

Nikon (, ; ), also known just as Nikon, is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging products. The companies held by Nikon form the Nikon Group. Nikon's products include cameras, camera ...

, ''Navigation promenade'' of Porto Santo Stefano, in 1983, the organ of the cathedral of

Lausanne Lausanne ( , , , ) ; it, Losanna; rm, Losanna. is the capital and largest city of the Swiss French speaking canton of Vaud. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway between the Jura Mountains and the Alps, and fac ...

(composed of about 7000 pipes) in 2003, and developed a new pasta shape, "Marille". He also designed several watch models for Seiko, mainly racing chronographs, as well as office furniture for Okamura Corporation.

Influence on design

Alfa_romeo_giulia_sprint_gt_1600_(cropped)

Ferrari GG50 - Museo Ferrari (17515678863)

HK Campus Open Day PolyU MyCar display exhibit X038 02

Giugiaro's earliest cars, like the

Alfa Romeo 105/115 Series Coupés The Alfa Romeo 105 and 115 series '' coupés'' are a range of cars made by the Italian manufacturer Alfa Romeo from 1963 until 1977, based on a shortened floorpan from the Giulia saloon. They were the successors to the Giulietta Sprint coupé ...

, often featured tastefully arched and curving shapes, such as the De Tomaso Mangusta, Iso Grifo, and Maserati Ghibli. In the late 1960s, Giugiaro made increasingly angular designs, culminating in the "folded paper" era of the 1970s. Straight-lined designs such as the BMW M1, Lotus Esprit S1, and Maserati Bora followed. He changed again during the early 1990s, introducing a more curvy approach with his Lamborghini Calà, Maserati Spyder, and Ferrari GG50. Giugiaro is widely known for the

DMC DeLorean The DMC DeLorean is a rear-engine two-passenger sports car manufactured and marketed by John DeLorean's DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) for the American market from 1981 until 1983—ultimately the only car brought to market by the fledgling c ...

. Notable in its own time for its unique design, the car was prominently featured in the Hollywood blockbuster movie series ''

Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis, and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 19 ...

.'' His most commercially successful design was the

Volkswagen Golf Mk1 The Volkswagen Golf Mk1 is the first generation of a small family car manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen. It was noteworthy for signalling Volkswagen's shift of its major car lines from rear-wheel drive and rear-mounted air-cooled engines ...

. In 1976, Giugiaro explored a new taxi concept with the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, ...

(MOMA), which became the 1978 Lancia Megagamma concept. Fiat had commissioned the 1978 concept from

Italdesign Italdesign Giugiaro S.p.A. is a design and engineering company and brand based in Moncalieri, Italy, that traces its roots to the 1968 foundation of Studi Italiani Realizzazione Prototipi S.p.A. by Giorgetto Giugiaro and Aldo Mantovani. Best kn ...

, asking for a 4-meter length, high roof, high h-point, multi-functional, monospace design — but ultimately decided the concept was too risky for production. In retrospect the Megagamma was more influential than successful in its own right. It is considered the "conceptual birth mother of the MPV/minivan movement." it influenced design of such mini/compact MPVs as the

Nissan Prairie The is an automobile manufactured and marketed by Nissan from 1981 to 2004. Considered a mini MPV or a compact MPV. It was also marketed as the Multi in Canada and the Stanza Wagon in the United States. In Japan, it was exclusive to ''Nissan Bl ...

(1981) and Fiat 500L (2011), as well as larger MPVs, including the

Renault Espace The Renault Espace is a five-door car manufactured by the French carmaker Renault since 1984 for five generations. It is classified as a large Multi-purpose vehicle, MPV/Minivan#Europe, minivan within the M-segment. The first three generations o ...

and Chrysler minivans.

Studios

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

Special Vehicle Design (1955–1959) * Bertone (1959–1965) * Ghia (1965–1967) * Studi Italiani Realizzazione Prototipi (SIRP, 1968) *

Italdesign Giugiaro Italdesign Giugiaro S.p.A. is a design and engineering company and brand based in Moncalieri, Italy, that traces its roots to the 1968 foundation of Studi Italiani Realizzazione Prototipi S.p.A. by Giorgetto Giugiaro and Aldo Mantovani. Best k ...

(1968–2015) *GFG Style (2015–present)

Designs

Automobiles

Cameras

Nikon F4 F4s Guigiaro Design Austin Calhoon Photograph

** EM (1979) ** F3 (1980) **L35AF (1983) ** F4 (1988) ** F5 (1996) ** D2H (2003) ** F6 (2004) ** D3 (2007) ** D4 (2012) ** D800 (2012) ** Df (2013)

Firearms

Handgun A handgun is a short- barrelled gun, typically a firearm, that is designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun (i.e. rifle, shotgun or machine gun, etc.), which needs to be held by both hands and also brac ...

s **

Beretta Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta (; "Pietro Beretta Weapon Factory") is a privately held Italian firearms manufacturing company operating in several countries. Its firearms are used worldwide for a variety of civilian, law enforcement, and milita ...

Neos (2002) * Submachine Guns **Beretta CX4 Storm (2003) * Shotguns **

UGB25 Xcel Trap 12 GA, 30"

Motorcycles

Ducati 860 GT The Ducati 860 GT was a Ducati motorcycle made in 1974 and 1975, replaced by the restyled 860 GTS for 1976–1979. In 1974–1975 the electric-start version was called the 860 GTE, while all models had electric start after 1975, and for the fina ...

(1975) *

Suzuki RE5 The Suzuki RE5 is a motorcycle with a liquid-cooled single-rotor Wankel engine, manufactured by Suzuki from 1974 to 1976. Apart from its unusual engine, the RE5 is mostly a conventional roadster, albeit with some peculiar styling details thanks ...

(1975) *Derbi Predator (1998) *TOMOS A5 Colibri (1989) moped *

MV Agusta 350 Ipotesi The MV Agusta 350 Ipotesi (''Hypothesis'') was a motorcycle produced by the Italian manufacturer MV Agusta from 1975 to 1977. The machine was conceived by Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro and based on the previous 350 B Sport Elettronica model. ...

Other

FIAT Ferroviaria Alstom Ferroviaria S.p.A., former Fiat Ferroviaria S.p.A., is the Italian division of Alstom. Fiat Ferroviaria S.p.A. was the rail division of automobile manufacturer Fiat. It was founded in 1880 as Società Nazionale Officine di Savigliano.

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Av ...

ETR 460 (Pendolino) train (1993) * Nitro concept

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most comm ...

(2013) *

Seiko , commonly known as Seiko ( , ), is a Japanese maker of watches, clocks, electronic devices, semiconductors, jewelry, and optical products. Founded in 1881 by Kintarō Hattori in Tokyo, Seiko introduced one of the first quartz watches and the ...

Speedmaster wrist watch (1986) *

Macchina Sportiva wrist watch * Deutz Fahr 6215 RCSHIFT

(2017) *''Navigation promenade'' of Porto Santo Stefano,

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

* Marille Pasta * Organ of the cathedral of

, composed of about 7000 pipes *

Molten Melting, or fusion, is a physical process that results in the phase transition of a substance from a solid to a liquid. This occurs when the internal energy of the solid increases, typically by the application of heat or pressure, which i ...

basketball design (official game ball for

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...

)

References

External links

Italdesign
Giugiaro's industrial design group
Coachbuild.com Encyclopedia: Giugiaro

An overview of automotive designers working for BMW. {{DEFAULTSORT:Giugiaro, Giorgetto 1938 births Living people People from Garessio Italian automobile designers Italian industrial designers Italdesign Giugiaro Lamborghini people BMW designers Ferrari people Alfa Romeo people Maserati people Compasso d'Oro Award recipients