VW design chief De Silva will strengthen Italdesign as innovation center

TORINO - Volkswagen Group design leader Walter De Silva will reinforce the function of Italdesign-Giugiaro as an initiation centre after changing Giorgetto Giugiaro as the Italian design-house chairperson.
De Silva became chairperson of Italdesign on Sept. 1, succeeding Giugiaro, who stepped down in June from the styling and engineering firm he co-started in 1968.
De Silva, 6 4, will keep his job as VW Team design manager managing all team manufacturers including Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini as well as the massmarket VW, Skoda and Seat marques.
Lamborghini's head of style, Filippo Perini, 50, is Italdesign's new style manager. Perini succeeds Wolfgang Egger, Audi's former chief designer, that has returned to Germany to head VW Group's interbrand style studio in Brunswick after spending just over annually at Italdesign. Perini retains his present job at Lamborghini.
Giugiaro, 7 7, and his son, Fabrizio, have cut their ties with Italdesign. On June 28 they offered the 9.9% position they'd held in the business after Volkswagen's Audi purchased 90.1 percent of Italdesign this year.
Larger part
De Silva stated the design house will finally possess a larger function as a design and engineering innovation centre for all VW Group's 1 2 manufacturers.
He can also give VW Group's manufacturer facilities more power. These should become "ambassadors" for great layout as well as create "beautiful" automobiles which is acclaimed internationally, he told Automotive News Europe.
Italdesign will take on the brand design centres on new generation versions also it will develop "design and engineering theories that may turn into a system for potential interbrand initiations," he stated.
De Silva considers the function of layout and of designers needs to be re-defined in today's rapidly-changing business. Design has been revolutionized because stylists are now able to develop an automobile for creation with layouts from a 3D printer, therefore outdated distinctions are not significant, he explained.
De Silva and Perini head Italdesign's the innovative group while former VW executive Joerg Astalosch, 43, is new CEO, changing Enzo Pacella, that will continue to serve the firm as a advisor for community matters.
Astalosch mentioned Italdesign's work force will likely be over 1 1,000 by the end-of the year, thanks to 50 new hi-res. He explained that Italdesign last year raised sales by 19 million euros to 189 million but declined to provide a prognosis for the present year.
De Silva will decrease his operating hours at Volkswagen's headquarters in Wolfsburg to spend some time at Italdesign, which will be located in the southern outskirts of Torino.
New school
Italdesign will start an school offering postgraduate classes to 50-60 of the most promising young designers from all over the world. The school is intended to be completely functional in 2018 when Italdesign has its 50th anniversary.
The school will educate broader cultural facets including fine-arts, background and philosophy to aid its pupils become better designers. "Great design is an item of great culture," de Silva stated.
The school's instructors are going to be from within VW Team but additionally from outside the auto-maker and from other areas to provide a multicultural strategy. Pupils will even have the opportunity to get work experience at Lamborghini and at the bike contractor Ducati, which will be possessed Volkswagen.

It's possible for you to reach Luca Ciferri at [email protected].

Labels:
Volkswagen

Giorgetto Giugiaro

Italdesign

Marketing

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12.09.2015
ID:2831

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