Pace-Setting Style from Italian Designers
Producers of ground-breaking car designs since the 1920s, the Italian styling houses were the single most influential styling force in the motoring world by the 1980s. Italian stylists led not just fashion wedge shapes or rounded—but whole concepts, such as the hatchback body style, adding glamour to everything from inexpensive runabouts to mid-engined supercars.
DeLorean PMC-12, 1981
| Origin | UK |
| Engine | 2,849 cc, V6 |
| Top speed | 121 mph (195 km/h) |
Lotus drew up the chassis, Giugiaro styled the body, and it starred in the film Back to the Future, but the DeLorean had quality problems that saw it out of production in 1982.
Hyundai Excel/Pony, 1985
| Origin | South Korea |
| Engine | 1,468 cc, straight-four |
| Top speed | 96 mph (154 km/h) |
Hyundai brought in Italdesign to style its first Pony in 1975, replacing it 10 years later with this similar but front-wheel-drive model. It was built up to 1994.
Skoda Favorit, 1987
| Origin | Czechoslovakia |
| Engine | 1,289 cc, straight-four |
| Top speed | 92 mph (148 km/h) |
Skoda’s first front-engined, front-wheel-drive model was styled by Bertone and became one of Central Europe’s most popular cars. It was simple, with just one engine option.
Lancia Delta Integrale, 1987
| Origin | Italy |
| Engine | 1,995 cc, straight-four |
| Top speed | 134 mph (216 km/h) |
Giugiaro’s Delta was very modern for its time, and was European Car of the Year in 1980. This is the 4×4 rally development of what started as a shopping car.
Chrysler TC by Maserati, 1989
| Origin | Italy |
| Engine | 2,213 cc, straight-four |
| Top speed | 130 mph (209 km/h) |
Though it was built in Italy by Maserati, the TC had a turbocharged Chrysler engine and was styled in the United States. Three years in gestation, it took too long to reach the market and sold poorly.
Citroën BX, 1982
| Origin | France |
| Engine | 1,905 cc, straight-four |
| Top speed | 106 mph (171 km/h) |
Styled by Marcello Gandini of Bertone, 2.3 million BXs were sold in 12 years. They shared the Peugeot 405’s floorpan, but with hydropneumatic suspension and 1.1-1.9-liter engines.
Peugeot 405, 1987
| Origin | France |
| Engine | 1,905 cc, straight-four |
| Top speed | 116 mph (187 km/h) |
Built until 1997 in Europe and still made in Iran, the Pininfarina-styled 405 won European Car of the Year in 1988 and sold 2.5 million worldwide. It has 1.4-2.0-liter engines.
Volvo 780, 1980
| Origin | Sweden/Italy |
| Engine | 2,849 cc, V6 |
| Top speed | 114 mph (183 km/h) |
Built by Bertone, the 780 began life with a live rear axle and an underpowered engine. By 1988 these had been replaced by independent rear suspension and a turbo.
Citroën XM, 1989
| Origin | France |
| Engine | 2,975 cc, V6 |
| Top speed | 143 mph (230 km/h) |
Styled by Bertone and derived from Gandini’s Citroen BX, the big, sleek XM had 2.0-3.0-liter engines and electronically controlled hydropneumatic suspension.
Fiat Panda, 1980
| Origin | Italy |
| Engine | 1,100 cc, straight-four |
| Top speed | 86 mph (138 km/h) |
A Giorgetto Giugiaro-styled classic, this simple, no-frills car set the style for 1980s Fiats. Steadily improved with 650-1,100 cc and even a 4×4, it was on sale until 2003.
Fiat Strada/Ritmo Cabriolet, 1983
| Origin | Italy |
| Engine | 1,498 cc, straight-four |
| Top speed | 103 mph (166 km/h) |
Bertone gave Fiat the most distinctively styled family hatchback of the 1970s. It was too radical to be popular at first, but by the 1983 Cabriolet launch it had come of age.
Fiat Croma, 1985
| Origin | Italy |
| Engine | 2,508 cc, straight-four |
| Top speed | 121 mph (195 km/h) |
Giogetto Giugiaro styled this gig ”notchback hatchback” family car with 1.6-2.5-liter engines. It was the world’s first passenger car with aa direct injection diesel engine.
Isuzu Piazza turbo, 1980
| Origin | Japan |
| Engine | 1,996 cc, straight-four |
| Top speed | 127 mph (204 km/h) |
General Motors’ Japanese brand had Giugiaro style its new coupé. Sold in the United States as the Impulse, from 1983 and in Europa from 1985, it was fast, but handled poorly at first.
Ferrari Mondial Cabriolet, 1984
| Origin | Italy |
| Engine | 2,926 cc, V8 |
| Top speed | 146 mph (235 km/h) |
Pininfarina styled the striking wedge-shaped, mid-engined Mondial, which looked even better with its roof down, since it had no rollover bar. Its performance was exhilarating.
Lotus Etna, 1984
| Origin | UK/Italy |
| Engine | 3,946 cc, V8 |
| Top speed | 180 mph (290 km/h) |
Styled by Giugiaro for Italdesign, the Etna was a non-running prototype until 2008 when it finally ran with the intended V8 engine, derived from the Esprit slant-four.
Cadillac Allanté, 1987
| Origin | USA/Italy |
| Engine | 4,087 cc, V8 |
| Top speed | 119 mph (192 km/h) |
Designed and built in Italy, and flown to the U.S. as fully trimmed bodies to be united with the Cadillac chassis, this upmarket roadster was criticized for having front-wheel drive.
Aston Martin V8 Vantage Zagato, 1986
| Origin | UK/Italy |
| Engine | 5,340 cc, V8 |
| Top speed | 185 mph (298 km/h) |
Echoing the DB4 GT Zagato of the 1960s, just 50 coupés and 25 convertibles of the 1986 V8 Vantage Zagato were built. Though not as elegant, it was brutally fast-and expensive.
It is a quote. The Definitive Visual History Of The Automobile 2011
