Italian automobile design
Information
On the occasion of the Paris Motor Show, a report on the latest luxury auto models of the big European car makers, created by Italian designers. Interview with Sergio Pininfarina who has been working in a partnership with the Peugeot company for over forty years.
Context
Beauty is luxury, this adage, claimed by the famous Italian automobile manufacturer Ettore Bugatti from the creation of his business in 1909, could also be that of each one of his original competition from the peninsular.
Maserati (1914), Ferrari (1947), Lamborghini (1948)... these brands have managed to mix technical demands and aesthetics by proposing models adapted to every sector (sport, tourism, luxury). From their conception they keep an image of prestige, elegance, performance and freedom.
Apart from the fluid lines of these models, Italian design is characterised by the use of emblems as symbols of strength and power (the rearing horse of Ferrari, the bull of Lamborghini, the Maserati trident), the choice of bright colours that quickly become indistinguishable from the brand (Ferrari red, Ducati blue, Lamborghini yellow). But behind the prestige of Italian design hides a less cheerful economic and industrial reality: shaken up by the crisis of the 1970s, several of these businesses have been bought out by multinational companies (Volkswagen, Peugeot and Fiat) in order to find second wind and to immortalise their brands.