Car Moon

One of the most memorable concept models from the decade that brought us grunge, the internet, Playstation and the Prius, is Italdesign’s series of BMW Nazca supercar studies. Designed by the great Giorgetto Giugiaro who was also responsible for BMW’s production M1 sports car, the Nazca M12 made its debut in 1991 and was followed in by a more hardcore version called the Nazca C2 in 1992 and an open-top Spider C2 model in 1993.

Now, one of the Nazca concepts has been put up for sale by a dealer located in the Czech Republic. The car seen here is based on the body of the 1991 Nazca M12 but features an Alpina-prepped 5.7-liter V12 engine (sourced from the 750i / 850i of the era) producing 379HP.

Italdesign Giugiaro celebrates its official Volkswagen property status with the the Tex and Go! concepts, both based on VW's upcoming modular transverse architecture. VW hopes use this architecture to cut down on development costs by having a vehicle system that can house a variety of power trains from the start.

Starting with the sportier of the two "A0" segment concepts, the Tex is Italdesign's take on "tomorrow's sporty Volkswagen". This baby Scirocco - approximately the size of a Polo and named after Italian comic hero Tex Willer - is a front-wheel drive sport hatch powered by a Twin Drive hybrid plug-in system.

Mated to a 7-speed DSG, this allows for up to 35 kilometers of electric travel, a top speed of 220 km/h (137 mph), and a sprint to 100 km/h (62 mph) in "about 6 seconds".

Carscoop reader Torben tipped us off this morning about the addition of two Volkswagen concept cars penned by the Italdesign Giugiaro studio at the European patent office. Given the recent reports on the world premiere of two new design studies from Italdesign Giugiaro to mark its integration to the VW Group at the Geneva Salon next week, we'd say it's almost certain that these are the cars being readied for the Swiss motor show.

The first concept is a tall and narrow five-door hatchback model with seating for four passengers, while the second model appears to be a sportier looking three-door variant with a lower roofline and more aggressive lines, in the likes of the Scirocco. We can't tell for sure, but it is possible that these two cars are roughly the same size as the Polo.

Ever since the demise of BMW’s M1 in 1981, designers and illustrators alike have speculated on the look of a possible successor to the Bavarian automaker’s only mass produced, mid-engined vehicle. Some – like industry stalwart ItalDesign – have gone so far to build full scale, drivable mock-ups.

One such speculative mock-up was ItalDesign’s Nazca M12 of 1991 featuring a mid-mounted V12 and BMW’s ubiquitous rear wheel drive. The Italian design house also presented a race-spec version of the car called the Nazca C2 at the 1992 Tokyo Motor Show, followed by a Spyder model in 1993.

Now, twenty years later, Dutch designer Sabino Leerentveld has resurrected the Nazca C2 in the form of this rather slick homage.

It appears that Aston Martin won't be the only British sports car maker to have a controversial small city car in its range. Lotus chief executive Dany Bahar told Car magazine that the Concept City Car, which was previewed at the recent Paris Motor Show alongside five sports car studies, has been approved for production. The comapny's CEO said the car will be manufactured in cooperation with Lotus parent company Proton and an undisclosed third party.

"Our city car has been confirmed and will be launched in October 2013," Mr. Bahar told the British magazine. "We are doing this together with Proton and another OEM [original equipment manufacturer, or car maker]. We will build three versions: one for the Asian market, one for Europe and a sportier one."

The Lotus flavored Concept City Car is based on one of the three Giugiaro-penned Proton EMAS design studies, which were first shown in Geneva earlier this year.

Europe's largest carmaker, the Volkswagen Group, completed the acquisition of Italdesign Giugiaro S.p.A. (IDG) on Monday and now holds a 90.1 percent stake in the Italian design and engineering firm as well as the company's brand name rights and patents. The German automaker said the shareholding has been purchased by Audi's Italian subsidiary Lamborghini with the remaining stake held by present owner family Giugiaro.

Back in the 1950s through the 1960s, a great number of Italian coachbuilders unleashed a parade of automotive classics that have withstood the test of time and continue to excite today. One of the lesser known-examples of that period is this here 1967 Ghia 450 SS Spyder, which is currently being offered for auction at eBay.

Ending days of rumors, the Volkswagen Group announced Tuesday it was buying a 90.1 per cent stake in Italian design firm and Italdesign Giugiaro S.p.A. as part of its global expansion plan, without, however, giving out any information on the financial aspects of the deal.

The German automaker said that the shares are being acquired by AUDI's Italian subsidiary Lamborghini Holding S.p.A., while the Giuigiaro family will keep a 9.9 per cent stake in the Italian company that generates sales of over €100 million (US$122 million) and has a workforce of some 800 employees.

Volkswagen's master plan is all about numbers. Being the biggest, baddest automaker out there. That's why it isn't any surprise to hear that Volkswagen might be bringing Italdesign Giugiaro under its wing (nothing is official yet).

An acquisition would be another major part of VW's world takeover scheme, assisting with the goal selling 10 million vehicles in 2018. Its ten brands intend to release sixty new or updated models this year, so more designers and engineers are needed.

Now is far from the first time that VW and Giugiaro have worked together. The Italian design house has helped create a variety of cars for those aforementioned ten brands.

Italdesign Giugiaro's latest design study is a three-car plug-in collection debuting under the name EMAS, which stands for Eco Mobility Advanced Solutions (Emas also means "gold" in Malay). Built in collaboration with Proton and Lotus Engineering, their goal is to showcase variable-design mini-sized cars that provide the interior space of mid-sizers.

For reference, the silver 5-door is the Emas Comfort, the orange one is the Emas Country, and the white 3-door is the Emas3 City.

The shared platform was designed in-house by Italdesign Giugiaro, and with its hybrid system's layout the seating position the Emas family retains a crossover-ish ride height. Thanks to their nifty packaging, interior space is at a maximum.

Now here's a car you don't ever expect to see driving on the road among ordinary vehicles. As was the case with Italdesign's one-off Ferrari-based GG50 that we showed you in a previous article, the uniquely styled 1998 Structura concept minivan car was also 'scooped' on the streets of Monaco. While not everyone may like the vehicle's unconventional design, you have to admit that its styling has aged well if you consider that it was conceived 11 years ago, in 1998 on the occasion of the company's thirtieth anniversary.

Underneath its exposed aluminum space-frame structure -hence the concept's name- the 4,640mm or 181-inches long minivan features a Volkswagen-derived, front-mounted 5.6-liter W12 engine that cranks out an impressive 420HP that is sent to all four wheels.

If you happen to stumble upon any weird or unique vehicles like the Italdesign Structura, take a picture or two and send us an e-mail, we'll deeply appreciate it!

Body architecture: 5-door, 5-seat

Overall dimensions (mm): length 4640, width 1900, height 1730 mm

Wheelbase, front and rear track: 2880, 1680, 1620 mm

Front and rear overhang: 1000, 760 mm

Engine position and drive: front longitudinal engine, 4 WD

Engine: Volkswagen W12 cylinder, 5.6-liters, 420 HP

Via: Autogespot

It's simply amazing what you can discover around the streets of Monaco. But then again, where else would you imagine that a one-of-a-kind model such as the Ferrari GG50 would be parked on the road like any other plebian vehicle other than Monaco? For those with a week memory, the Ferrari GG50 that was spotted by the folks over at Autogespot was created by Italdesign's Giorgetto Giugiaro as a present for himself in celebration of his fifty years in the automobile design industry. From what we know, the vehicles still belongs to the Giugiaro family.

The GG50, which is based on the platform and mechanicals of the 612 Scaglietti, made its world premiere at the 2005 Tokyo Auto Show. While retaining the Scaglietti's wheelbase at 2,950mm, the Ferrari GG50 spans 4,810mm in length, meaning its 90mm or about four inches shorter than the model it is based upon. It can accommodate four passengers in a 2+2 seating layout in which case it offers a loading capacity of 270 liters. With the rear seatbacks folded down, it's loading capacity increases to 500 liters.

Power comes from the same V12 engine as the Scaglietti that produces an output of 540HP at 7,200 rpm from a displacement of 5,748cc (5.7-liters) and is mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission.

As for the design? Let's just say that we've seen better from Giugaro in his 50-year long career as a designer.

Via: Autogespot