Lambo Veteran Perini to Head Design at Italdesign

TURIN – Filippo Perini will be appointed head of design at Italdesign by Walter De Silva, incoming president of the design and engineering studio, sources tell WardsAuto.

Perini (no relation to author) comes to Italdesign from Lamborghini, where he has been design director since 2006. He has relocated to a new office at Italdesign headquarters in Moncalieri, Italy, ahead of his appointment to be informally announced Friday.

Perini succeeds Wolfgang Egger, who spent one year as design chief at Italdesign before being named to head owner Volkswagen Group’s Interbrand Design Studio in Braunschweig, Germany.

De Silva will be formally appointed Friday to succeed company founder Giorgetto Giugiaro as president. Jorg Astaloch, former chief financial officer of VW’s MAN truck- and bus-manufacturing division, will be named CEO of Italdesign, succeeding Enzo Pacella, who has been promoted to Italdesign’s supervisory board.

Giugiaro, 77, and his son Fabrizio in June sold their remaining interest in Italdesign to VW subsidiary Lamborghini.

Italdesign’s relationship with VW began a few years after Giugiaro founded the studio in 1968. Its notable designs include the first-generation VW Golf, Scirocco, Passat and Audi 80. Italdesign’s other automotive designs include the Fiat Panda, Hyundai Sonata and DeLorean DMC-12.