03:58 20-05-2026

Italdesign pursues partnership with Ford for future vehicles

Italian design and engineering firm Italdesign is aiming to work with one of Detroit's 'Big Three' automakers, including Ford. In 2024, the company opened an office in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, to get closer to American companies.

Over the past five years, Italdesign has invested $20 million in expanding its U.S. operations. The company wants to offer not just design but also end-to-end support for vehicle development—from ergonomics and prototyping to testing, fine-tuning, and small-series production.

Ford and Italdesign have worked together before. Joint projects include the 2006 Giugiaro Mustang concept, which influenced the design of the fifth-generation Mustang. Italdesign also created the Maya, a two-door mid-engine sports car for Ford that was once planned for production. Later came the Maya II ES and Maya II EM.

In total, Italdesign has developed more than 120 concept cars and helped create over 300 production vehicles. Fabrizio Mina, head of Italdesign-Giugiaro USA, said the company chose Michigan because of the 'Big Three' and is ready to handle client projects 'from A to Z'. For Ford, such a partnership could become part of work on future 2026 vehicles and later projects.