"Italdesign has now become a permanent member of the Volkswagen Group."
The Volkswagen Group has completed the acquisition of Italdesign Giugiaro S.p.A. (IDG), Turin. Volkswagen now holds a 90% in IDG, including the brand name rights and patents. The remaining shares will stay in the possession of the present owner family Giugiaro.
Ralf-Gerhard Willner (49) and Salvatore Cieri (53) have been appointed to the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of IDG.
“Italdesign has now become a permanent member of the Volkswagen Group. Given the full order books and numerous interesting projects, the perspectives are better than ever,” said Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft.
“In view of our ongoing model initiative and the associated development and design assignments, we will be expanding Italdesign’s highly-motivated and productive team,” Winterkorn added.
Giorgetto Giugiaro is Chairman of the Executive Committee, Fabrizio Giugiaro is Vice President, Enzo Pacella is Managing Director. Ralf-Gerhard Willner has now also been appointed to the body. He currently heads concept development at the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand in Wolfsburg, having previously held the same function at Audi in Ingolstadt.
Salvatore Cieri will also be joining the Executive Committee as Managing Director at IDG. He is currently the member of the Board of Directors responsible for Administration, Finance and Controlling at Automobili Lamborghini. Giugiaro became famous with his Golf I design. He then went on with concepts for high volume models such as the first Volkswagen Passat, the Scirocco and the Audi 80, to name just a few. Volkswagen and IDG are now working on the planned Volkswagen Up! model family vehicle, among others.
Giorgetto Giugiaro and Aldo Mantovani founded IDG in Turin in 1968. Both founders are among the leaders of Italian automobile design. Italdesign is also known for its development center. Today, the company generates sales of more than €100 million and has a workforce of 800 employees.