The older (60's, 70's and 80's era) concepts Giorgetto had done were beautiful and far ahead of their time. The recent designs are actually done by his son Fabrizio, which IMO are not as elegant or advanced as the ones done by the Maestro himself.
Golf Passat Punto Delta DeLorean ... They are the most recognizable cars in the world which explored new market opportunities and segments. The first three were bestsellers. Pininfarina, Bertone etc. design beautiful cars but Giugiaro's are also very innovative.
Although I agree that nowadays Giugiaro or Italdesign has lost somehow the edge, historically "the Maestro" is one of the most infuentials car designers ever.
The first Golf, the first Panda are benchmarks. Solutions like "auto-clave" (don't know the translation to english) doors were created by him. Then we have the small Fiats like the sucessfull Uno and Punto, and now the elegant and dynamic GrandPunto.
Without forgetting the Maserati 3200GT. Or the elegant EB112.
However, today and in the last years, somehow it looks like it has lost the inovation factor.
Some concepts looklike redesigns of ancient ones, like the original Daewoo Bucrane, with is shape evolving into a few Bugatti concepts, the Kubang SUV and an Alfa concept.
It still has the capacity to amaze, like the concept Alfa Brera, but I still feel that they have reached some kind of barrier.
You are joking,right? If your not, The principle of beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Many people look at a car designed by the Maestro and get the impression that it's pretty. Perhaps this does not happen when you look at his work, but it happens to the majority of people. It's like when I look at a BMW, and it seems obvious to me that BMW has laid off the designers in their styling department, and subcontracted out the styling work to a sheltered workshop for the blind.
I wanted to be just like him when i was young....with every corner having one of my cars on the road... I just checked and they (they being the internet) reckon he did 80 production cars. Whether you like them or not i guess a LOT of other people did.
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I think Davegesprek is talking about the new designs, in which case i also agree with him. There is no question about Giugiaro´s historical impact and´innovation, but right now it looks as if they just lost it as a design studio. They still make beautiful, safe styled and well balanced cars, but in my opinion they no longer have that appeal that makes them look designed by a specialty team like, lets say, Pininfarina. Now THATs talking design.
