Audi cost savings can see that it is selling Italdesign – report

Automotive design agency Italdesign Can be sold by owner Audi While the Volkswagen Group wants to sharpen its financial belt.

Union -Sources in Italy have told Corriere della Sera Audi has taken the first steps to discharge the famous car field agency, where Italdesign Due Diligence and appreciation are undergoing.

Although no potential buyers have been appointed, a meeting with Italdesign employees is planned before 12 May at the headquarters of the company in Moncalieri, a suburb on the southern edge of Turin. The company currently employs around 1000 people in studios around the world, including Italy, Spain, Germany, China and the United States.

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Audi’s move to offloading Italdesign is part of a wider push within the Volkswagen Group to save costs and to free cash due to the sale of sale in Europe and the increasing competition from Chinese car manufacturers.

As part of its cost-saving efforts, Audi closed its factory in Brussels in February, where it had made the Q8 e-tron and Q8 e-tron Sportback. It will also reduce its workforce in Germany by 7500 people by the end of 2029.

Once one of the most profitable parts of the Volkswagen Group, the operational margin from Audi fell to only 1.5 percent in the first quarter of this year; Automakers usually see 6 to 8 percent as a good figure.

Italdesign was founded in 1968 by designer Giiororgetto Giugiaro and engineer Aldo Mantovani. The extensive credit role of the company includes a link iconic supercars, including the DMC Deloren, Lotus Esprit and the BMW M1 Supercar.

You could claim that the work of Italdesign at the more affordable end of the spectrum has been even more influential, with the original Volkswagen Golf, and Fiat Panda, Punto and Uno are all written by the company.

Other credits are the first generation Daewoo Matiz, Hyundai Excel, Lancia Delta, Audi 80 and Lexus GS.

In 2010 Volkswagen bought 90 percent of the Italdesign, with the remaining 10 percent stored by Giorgetto Giugiaro and his family. To keep his Italian companies together, the Italdesign was placed at Lamborghini under the property of Audi.

The Giugiaro and his son sold their remaining interest to Volkswagen in 2015 and left the company to set up their own design consultancy.

Under the property of Volkswagen, Italdesign continued to collaborate with other car manufacturers, although the volume of products has been considerably delayed. Cars developed since 2010 include the Audi Q2, the Limited Edition Nissan GT-R50 and the Voyah Free for the Chinese Automaker Dongfeng.

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