“We are proud of what we have achieved in these fifty years,” stated CEO Jörg Astalosch. “Italdesign has always stood out for its ability to dare, to be ahead of its time and anticipate the industry’s needs, working daily to raise the bar of quality standards. If we look at the many prototypes we are proud to have at our Moncalieri headquarters which were inspirational for many successful projects for our customers, this attitude for innovation — never an end in itself — is evident even after many decades”.
“Today, we are ready to start the next fifty years with the same mind-set, and with the experience and skills acquired, very motivated and full of energy and ideas. We would like to thank especially our distinguished clients around the world for working with us in the last 50 years, pushing together for the best solutions. We also thank our employees, totally dedicated with their passion and skills to our clients.
“We will celebrate that new start into the next 5 decades throughout the year honouring our employees, networking with existing and new stakeholders worldwide and especially working on most fascinating projects for our customers. It is no coincidence that the logo addition we have presented today, and which will accompany us throughout this year, announces Next 50.”
“In the last 50 years Italdesign has featured many technological milestones and was also responsible for famous design masterpieces” – stated President of Italdesign Dr. Bernd Martens. “Since it became part of our Audi Group in 2010, Italdesign has broadened its skills and competences. It has become a real turnkey-project service provider for us as well.
A year ago, Italdesign started a new chapter as a car producer. With its new Automobili Speciali brand, it now produces ultra-limited editions for selected collectors and other OEMs.
Today, Italdesign is an incubator for new and innovative solutions, not only within the Audi Group, but for the entire world.
When I started my job as President of Italdesign, I got to know a team that works with great passion, plenty of ideas and a lot of expertise. I’m very proud of this team”
Since 1968, Italdesign has been responsible for the styling, the engineering development and the prototyping of about two hundred car models by all the world’s great car makers, producing thousands of prototypes. After having created the first ‘Tre posti’ (three-seaters) in the world in 1968 with the Bizzarrini Manta, the Alfa Romeo Alfasud in 1971, the first production project assigned to the company, the Pop.Up developed with Airbus in 2017* for future mobility, Italdesign has always emphasized its commitment to be a top-tier partner for OEMs working in the highly competitive mobility sector. Having joined the Volkswagen Group in 2010, Italdesign works closely with many prestigious brands of the group and continues to operate on the open market working with manufacturers outside of the Volkswagen Group. “We are also especially proud of having influenced various Industrial Designs in the past 50 years with our team, from trains, to planes, to cameras or Olympic torches”, Jörg Astalosch adds.
“The ‘next 50’ philosophy underpins our company development strategy for the near future,” continued Jörg Astalosch. “The automotive world, or more generally the world of mobility, is changing rapidly. We are on the eve of a great revolution: the boundaries between means, of transportation, services and infrastructures are becoming more and more transient. Italdesign is evolving in line with this process. This is why we have started new initiatives dedicated to future mobility in addition to the services that we have always offered – styling, engineering, testing, validation, pre-series construction and, more recently, the construction of ultra-limited series vehicles under the Automobili Speciali brand”.
With almost a thousand employees across the Italian and German offices and our Barcelona subsidiary, Italdesign has applied the ‘next 50’ philosophy to the employment contract as well. In fact, 2017 saw the start of two experimental flexible working schemes. The first scheme allows staff to work from home two days a month; the second to enjoy greater office hour flexibility, provided that the forty-hour week is respected. Flexibility not only concerns working hours but also a new concept of space inside the company: some departments have been completely revamped to encourage dialogue and collaboration, walls have been knocked down in favour of open environments and desks are no longer assigned as workstations vary according to the projects.
“The natural push to innovate, which is in the DNA of a company such as in our people, also extends to what we offer our staff,” continues Astalosch. “For us, wellbeing does not merely mean assistance or prevention, which are already offered to all our employees and their families, but also focusing on the right work-life balance. Flexibility in managing personal time also refers to a new concept of workspaces within the company: walls are knocked down between the various departments, not only in the metaphorical sense, but also to encourage people to exchange ideas and adopt a flexible and more effective approach.”
The Fiftieth anniversary celebration programme will open officially on 6 March 2018 with the press conference at the Geneva International Motor Show and will continue in June with the company’s attendance at the Turin Motor Show and the Automotive News Europe Congress, organised jointly with Automotive News Europe, which will welcome more than three hundred professionals from the worldwide automotive industry into the Moncalieri headquarters.Again in June the company will open its doors to employees, former employees and families to enjoy the Family Day, that this year will be particularly rich in attractions and events.
The competition on the Future Mobility in Cities theme, launched today and open to young people aged between 18 and 35, is also in line with the “next 50” philosophy.The participants, who may also create groups of five people at most, can submit to a jury of experts, representing different industries, universities and transportation specialist, solutions for future mobility in urban areas, also dedicated to developing countries. Registrations, to be performed on the company’s website www.italdesign.it, will open on 1 March and close on 1 April. The participants will have to send their projects by 31 August at the latest. The winners will be announced in December 2018. The winners of the competition will be awarded with prizes totally amounting to €40,000
The International Jury will assess the projects, rewarding the following aspects:
- Innovation and uniqueness
- Environmental and user friendly
- Human Centered approach
- Design for all
- Feasibility and realistic
- Technologically advanced and pioneering solutions
- Solutions applicable for developing countries
All the information, rules and procedures for sending projects will be indicated on the Italdesign website.
Further updates on the schedule of events will be published on the website in the next few months.
*A list of all the projects developed by Italdesign can be seen here: www.italdesign.it/projects/