Marcello Gandini's 10 most famous car designs

The deceased designer's work ranged from the Lamborghini Miura to the Renault 5

By: Massimo Grassi

Mar 14, 2024 at 8:00am ET

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When you think of Marcello Gandini, who died on 13 March at the age of 85, the first thing that comes to mind is certainly the Lamborghini Miura, a masterpiece on wheels that was designed on behalf of Bertone, where the designer worked until 1980 before setting up his own business.

Gandini went on to create other iconic models for Lamborghini, whose style continues to influence the brand to this day. However, there are many other manufacturers associated with the Turin designer whose immortal models are still popular today. So here are the 10 most famous cars designed by Marcello Gandini.

Lamborghini Miura

The Lamborghini Miura was presented "naked" at the 1965 Turin Motor Show, where it stood out for its avant-garde technical solutions (designed by Stanzani and Dallara), and was in search of the right dress.

Lamborghini Miura

Marcello Gandini created it with a mixture of curved, muscular lines, a long bonnet, oval, semi-rectangular headlights and a shielded tailgate. Its success was immediate and has endured over the decades without its appeal diminishing.

Alfa Romeo Carabo

After the success of the Miura, Gandini began his collaboration with Alfa Romeo with a challenge: take the mechanics of one of the most beautiful cars in the world - the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale - and give it a completely different style. The result was the Alfa Romeo Carabo, a concept that broke with everything that had gone before (in Arese and elsewhere) and was presented at the 1968 Geneva Motor Show.

Alfa Romeo 33 Carabo

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It was never produced in series - today it is in the Alfa Romeo Museum - and served as inspiration for later models by the Turin designer, including the spectacular, vertically opening scissor doors, which were adopted from the Lamborghini Countach and Diablo.

Lancia Stratos Zero

The wedge-shaped lines are one of Gandini's typical features and found their greatest expression in the Lancia Stratos Zero, a concept presented in 1970 and forerunner of the Stratos production model, an icon of rallying.

Lancia Stratos Zero

A provocation on wheels, with angular lines, no doors, but with a folding windscreen and glass surfaces reduced to a minimum.

Lamborghini Countach

We return to Sant'Agata Bolognese. Six years after the Miura, Lamborghini created the Countach in 1971 and once again it was Marcello Gandini who determined the styling. The edges of the Stratos Zero can be found again, softened in certain respects so as not to create an overly exaggerated car. The result is an absolute masterpiece.

Lamborghini Countach

"The Countach reinvented the high-performance car and became an icon in terms of design language that continues to inspire contemporary Lamborghinis decades later," said Stephan Winkelmann, President and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini, some time ago.

Renault 5 (1984)

Despite all the sports cars, Marcello Gandini also created far more popular models such as the Renault Supercinq, the second generation of the R5 presented in 1984.

Renault Supercinq

The Renault Supercinq retained the proportions and general design of the previous generation, but was characterised by softer and more modern lines. So much so that it inspired the new Renault 5, which debuted at the 2024 Geneva Motor Show.

Innocenti Mini

Another small car, but this time with British DNA and Gandini's signature is immediately recognisable, especially the angular lines that are so different from those of the original Mini.

Innocenti Mini 90

The Innocenti Nuova Mini of 1974, also known as the "Mini Bertone", had the dual task of flanking the classic British Mini by Alec Issigonis and bringing to Italy the production of a small car that could compete with the Autobianchi A112. Bertone's design director was Gandini, who designed this successful small car, of which over 300,000 were produced by 1993.

Citroën BX

Despite the fact that the Citroën BX from 1982 was initially met with criticism from the specialised press and the public, this is Gandini's best-selling car in history, and it's a fine result for a saloon car from a volume manufacturer that was characterised by a style so different from its competitors.

Citroen BX

The hatchback body, some angular details reminiscent of the designer's other creations and a particularly low drag coefficient for the time (0.34) were its distinguishing features.

Alfa Romeo Montreal

The Alfa Romeo Montreal, a spectacular coupé with a 2.6-litre V8 and rear-wheel drive, was one of the (albeit limited) production cars designed by Marcello Gandini.

Alfa Romeo Montreal

There are quite a few borrowings from the Miura, starting with the prototype that was presented at the Expo '67 in Montreal in 1967. However, the production version was not unveiled until 1970 at the Geneva Motor Show and more than 3,900 units were produced by 1977. To this day, the "Verde Montreal" paint finish can still be found in the colour catalogue of current new Alfa cars.

BMW Garmisch

This is the case of the vanished and reborn concept. In a nutshell, this is the story of the BMW Garmisch, which was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in 1970, whose traces have been lost and which the Bavarian manufacturer had completely rebuilt in 2019.

BMW Garmisch

The styling was once again created by Bertone and Gandini, which can be seen in the characteristic rear window with honeycomb trim. The basis is the BMW 2002 tii, but the Italian designer created something new and original that brought the coupé prototype closer to the shape of the first generation of the BMW 5 Series.

Fiat X1/9

The Fiat X1/9 from 1972 is still remembered by connoisseurs as one of the Turin-based company's most original open-top cars, which in turn came from the Bertone brand and was designed by Marcello Gandini.

Fiat X1/9

It was also the only Fiat Spider with a mid-engine and the realisation of what Gandini had already proposed in 1969 with the concept of the Bertone Runabout Autobianchi A112 into a production model. From 1982, the X1/9 was even offered under the Bertone name.