Italdesign Is Trying to Woo American AutomakersItaldesign (Italdesign)Italy and Detroit may be separated by 4500 miles, but both places have always shared a passion for all things automotive. The 1960s and '70s even saw a wave of cars, like the De Tomaso Pantera, that paired Italian bodywork with American engines. Now, the bond between Detroit and Italy is deepening, with the legendary design firm Italdesign injecting $20 million into its U.S. operations over a five-year period as it hopes to form a closer relationship with American automakers.Italdesign, founded in 1968 by legendary designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, opened a U.S. office in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, in 2024, and wants its facility to serve as a one-stop shop for the needs of American automakers. While the company's name does include the word "design," Italdesign says its expertise expands far beyond penning the eye-catching show cars that it's known for.In fact, Italdesign assists OEMs through nearly every step of the development process, from initial design and engineering to honing ergonomics and human-machine interfaces, prototype production, validation testing, and even small-scale production of road-legal customer cars. At a recent event in Detroit, Italdesign demonstrated its abilities to American car manufacturers and other members of the local automotive industry.Italdesign (Italdesign)You're probably most familiar with the Italdesign name from the more than 120 concept cars the company has presented at auto shows over the past several decades. At the event, Italdesign showed off the Giugiaro Mustang from 2006, which the company designed for Ford, and it even inspired some elements of the fifth-generation Mustang. There was also the Chevrolet Corvette Moray, a concept that commemorated the Vette's 50th anniversary in 2003 and features a glass dome cockpit with radical gullwing windows.AdvertisementAdvertisementThese concepts are the stars and demonstrate Italdesign's design prowess, but much of the company's work happens behind the scenes. Italdesign has helped develop over 300 production vehicles in its history, working on everything from exterior lighting and infotainment interfaces to crash testing and aerodynamic engineering. Italdesign also says it is capable of delivering around 500 pre-production vehicles per year.The New Concept Lab.Italdesign (Italdesign)At the event, Italdesign demonstrated its New Concept Lab, essentially a simulated car interior that features a physical structure with seats and a steering wheel, which combines with virtual reality via wearable headsets and hand-movement trackers to help engineers evaluate interior ergonomics. The setup can be adapted to a wide variety of vehicle types, and using virtual reality reduces the speed and material requirements involved in iterating new designs.The New Concept Lab system also allows Italdesign to overlay two different interior designs at once to better evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. The team can even drive the vehicle in the virtual-reality world to evaluate things like visibility and ease of use for the infotainment while in motion. Italdesign says it has used the New Concept Lab for non-automotive use cases too, such as trains, shuttle buses, and drones.Italdesign assembling the Nissan GT-R50.Italdesign (Italdesign)The U.S. shop can also work in real-time collaboration with the main Italdesign office just outside Turin, Italy, allowing access to Italdesign's full team of 1300 employees. Having an office in the U.S. lets Italdesign work more efficiently, since having employees in multiple time zones expands the amount of work that the company can accomplish in one day.AdvertisementAdvertisementItaldesign can even build special-edition vehicles in limited quantities, such as the Nissan GT-R50, which draped unique bodywork over the Japanese sports car to celebrate its 50th anniversary. With the GT-R50, Italdesign handled the exterior design, interior color and trim changes, engine upgrades, and homologation for street use. The entire process from the beginning of the partnership with Nissan to the delivery of all 20 cars took just four years. Italdesign has also built its own limited-production supercar, the Zerouno, seen undergoing assembly at the top of this article.Italdesign (Italdesign)Italdesign has worked with a wide range of companies over the decades, from giants like Fiat and Nissan to luxury automakers like Audi and Alfa Romeo, as well as niche players like Caterham. "We are not picky, we are accessible to everybody," Fabrizio Mina, CEO of Italdesign-Guigiaro USA, explained to Car and Driver. Still, Italdesign has come here seeking to work with leading American automakers."Why did we choose Michigan?" he said. "Because of the 'Big Three.'" We want to have a long-lasting relationship with the big players." That doesn't mean that Italdesign won't stay open to projects from all sorts of companies, though, just that working with startups is "the cherry on top." No matter what the project is, however, Italdesign says its ready to help. From design to engineering to validating testing, Italdesign can do "whatever the customer is asking," said Mina. "From A to Z, we can deliver everything."➡️ Skip the lot. Let Car and Driver help you find your next car.Shop New Cars Shop Used CarsYou Might Also LikeGift Guide: Best Ride-On Electric Cars for KidsFuture Cars Worth Waiting For: 2025–2029
