The Real Influencers: Giorgetto Giugiaro

It wasn’t just the quality of his work. Even more extraordinary was that his creativity flowed so plentifully, as well as so productively. More than 200 production cars were created while at Italdesign, the company he founded in 1968. Giorgetto Giugiaro is surely the most prolific car designer of all time, as well as the most influential.

There have been brilliant budget cars (I give you the original Fiat Panda) as well as striking supercars (who can forget Lotus Esprit, Maserati Bora, BMW M1?). Cars from the astonishing (DeLorean DMC 12) to the outstanding (Alfa Romeo Alfasud). Cars of extraordinary elegance, including the exquisite Alfa Giulia GT of 1963, which he completed while still in his early 20s. He was responsible for cars of huge significance, too, including the first mass-produced Hyundai, the Pony, and the Fiat Uno.

There were Ferrari concepts and, later, the eye-catching Alfetta GT, GTV and Brera. Unsurprisingly for an Italian designer, his Alfa, Fiat and Maserati portfolios are especially bountiful.