VW Dumping Italdesign? The Design House Behind Golf, DeLorean & More

So you've probably heard of Italdesign, right? These are the folks behind some of the coolest cars ever made - and yeah, a few stinkers too. Now VW's looking to dump them after owning them for over a decade. Talk about a messy breakup.

The whole thing started back in '68 when design guru Giorgetto Giugiaro decided to launch his own thing. VW quickly jumped on board, and before you knew it, Italdesign was cranking out icons left and right. Remember the original Golf? That boxy little hatch that basically changed the game? Yep, that was them.

And they didn't stop there. The DeLorean with those crazy gullwing doors from Back to the Future? Italdesign. That submarine-car James Bond drove in The Spy Who Loved Me? The Lotus Esprit - another Italdesign special. These guys were on fire.

Car nerds go nuts for their BMW M1 too - that rare beast that kicked off BMW's whole M division. And rally fans? They're still drooling over the Lancia Delta Integrale all these decades later. Those sharp edges and boxy fenders still look amazing today.

But let's be real - not everything they touched turned to gold. Those Daewoo cars they designed around 2000? Total snoozefest. The Lanos, Nubira and whatever other forgettable names they had... these cars had all the personality of a wet paper bag. No wonder Daewoo went belly-up.

Then there was that weird second-gen Fiat Croma wagon thing from 2005. The first one had some charm, but the sequel? Major design hangover.

And don't even get people started on the Bugatti EB112 concept. That car split opinions faster than politics at Thanksgiving dinner. Some thought it was genius, others thought it looked like a sad blob with wheels. It did inspire the Veyron though, so there's that.

Fast forward to now, and VW's looking to kick Italdesign to the curb. Money troubles, the EV revolution - the usual corporate drama. No one knows who's gonna snatch them up yet, but rumor has it some non-car companies from outside Europe might be interested.

Whatever happens, Italdesign has left its fingerprints all over automotive history. From everyday VWs to poster-worthy supercars, these Italian designers shaped how we think cars should look. Not too shabby for a small design shop from Turin.