Legendary Lamborghini Designer Marcello Gandini Has Died

The Italian design icon was responsible for numerous now-legendary exotic cars, including the Countach, Stratos, and EB 110.

marcello gandini leaning against the roof of a lamborghini miura parked on a road

Brian Silvestro

By: Brian Silvestro

Mar 13, 2024 at 1:49pm ET

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Marcello Gandini, legendary designer responsible for numerous Italian cars, has died, according to RaiNews, Italy's state-owned news outlet. He was 85 years old.

Gandini was best-known for his work with Lamborghini, where he was responsible for designing poster cars like the Miura, the Countach, and the Diablo. He was also the designer behind icons like the Lancia Stratos, the Bugatti EB110, and the Fiat X1/9.

The Turin-born designer created his most famous designs while working at Italian design house Bertone from the mid-1960s until 1980, penning the lines for cars like the Alfa Romeo Montreal, the Maserati Khamsin, the original Volkswagen Polo, and the Ferrari 308 GT4.

Gandini branched out and away from Bertone later in his career, working independently with automakers like Citroën to develop the popular BX and Renault to design the now-iconic 5 Turbo hatchback. Other notable Gandini designs include the original BMW 5 Series, the Lamborghini Espada, and the Cizeta-Moroder V16T.

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Even later in life Gandini continued to pursue design. He worked with TaTa Motors in 2017 to create the TaMo Racemo, a sportscar concept shown at the Geneva Motor Show. He also involved himself in the industrial and furniture design spaces. In January, Gandini was awarded an honorary degree in mechanical engineering by the Polytechnic Institute of Turin.

A funeral chapel is being organized in Gandini's Almese design studio, set to be held Thursday from 3:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M., and Friday 10:00 A.M to 12:00 P.M. local time, according to RaiNews. The funeral itself is expected to be held on Friday evening or Saturday.