Design Firm Known for Exotics Turns to Hybrids

Fabrizio Giugiaro, director of Italdesign-Giugiaro, in front of the Namir concept car.

Mr. Giugiaro is the son of the legendary automotive designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, who founded Italdesign in 1968, after starting his career with Fiat and Italian design firms like Bertone and Ghia. Today, Italdesign has more than 1,000 employees around the world and offices in Italy, Germany, China and Spain.

Fabrizio Giugiaro began his own auto design career in the late 1980s. He has numerous concept cars to his credit, like the Aston Martin Twenty Twenty and Chevrolet Corvette Moray. But Italdesign’s work is not limited to automotive exotica. The firm recently finished work on the Brilliance BS2 hatchback — Brilliance is a Chinese automaker — and has designed everything from buildings (including the company’s headquarters) to cameras and pasta.

Ironically, it’s the mundane cars that pose the biggest challenges, said Mr. Giugiaro, as we walked through the design studios. When working on a mainstream vehicle, like the Fiat Grande Punto, the same risks cannot be taken as those involved in a car that is sold in limited numbers and at a high price. “It’s a car that must be nice and understood by the public,” Mr. Giugiaro explained. A daring design can be used for exotics sold in the dozens, not family cars sold in the thousands.

The future success or failure of the latest generation Punto will soon be judged by American car buyers. The recently introduced Punto Evo – shown at the Frankfurt auto show – will make its way to American shores within two years, courtesy of Fiat’s takeover of Chrysler. The American market Punto Evo will likely wear a Chrysler or Dodge badge when it arrives. Less certain to have any sort of production life (in the United States or elsewhere) is Italdesign’s latest handiwork, the hybrid-powered Namir supercar.

“The Namir is one of the most complicated cars we’ve ever done,” Mr. Giugiaro said, standing next to the car in a design studio. First shown during this year’s Geneva auto show, the wedge-shaped Namir is powered by an 814-cc endothermic rotary engine and four electric motors. “Who knows, maybe the next concept will be nuclear-powered,” he said, laughing. “We always try to find the best technology we can find. Luckily Frazer Nash had this wonderful hybrid system.”

Still only a concept, the Namir is said to be capable of accelerating from zero to 62 miles an hour in 3.5 seconds, while averaging 90 miles a gallon. Top speed is estimated at 187 miles an hour.

“With the Namir, the styling must reflect something unique and particular because the technology is new,” Mr. Giugiaro said. “But at the same time, as my father says, if we really make a revolution on the engine, then people want the same idea of an exotic car.” This is why the Namir has an ecologically-minded drivetrain, but a shape certain to please fans of traditional Italian supercars.

To Mr. Giugiaro, the recipe is simple. “In our point of view, it’s not a question of Italian design,” he said. “Good taste is simply good taste.”