Italdesign-Badged Supercar Bound for Geneva Show

TURIN – Putting action behind his words, Italdesign CEO Jörg Astalosch has spent the past year opening the Italian design and engineering studio to the automotive world beyond its Volkswagen Group parent.

The most straightforward statement of his new strategy will be unveiled at next month’s Geneva auto show, where the Turin-based company will unveil a top-performance 2-seater sport car with a brand name new to the list of automakers: Italdesign.

The car is neither a traditional concept nor show car but is a street-legal supercar with European type approval. No more than five will be built.

Astalosch and his team are not yet interested in electric or hybrid cars, preferring for now the sound they like hear coming from gasoline-powered 8- and 12-cyl. engines.

The teasing images released so far by Italdesign do not show much. But sources familiar with the project suggest the new supercar’s architecture and powertrain have much in common with the V-12 Lamborghinis and the fact that design chief Filippo Perini (no relation to the author) is the father of the most recent and successful Lamborghinis.

This could mean the fight for most-spectacular-supercar will be fierce when Pininfarina and Fabrizio Giugiaro also unveil their limited-series $1 million-plus creations at Geneva.