Having just completed its purchase of Porsche, Volkswagen Group has continued its expansion into the sports car arena, buying 90.1 per cent of famed Italian automotive design company Italdesign Giugiaro S.p.A.

The shares were acquired by Volkswagen Group company Audi. Italdesign’s remaining 9.9 per cent of shares are still held by the Guigiaro family. 

Italdesign was founded in Turin, Italy in 1968 by Giorgetto Giugiaro and Aldo Mantovani. Today the company employs 800 people and generates annual sales of more than €100 million.

In fact Italdesign and Volkswagen have a long shared history – Giorgetta Giugiaro penned the very first Volkswagen Golf in the early 1970s and the company also created the first Volkswagen Passat and Scirocco as well as the Audi 80. Currently the two companies are jointly developing the upcoming Volkswagen Up! Model.