Legendary Italian car designer Marcello Gandini died at the age of 85. His dashing designs include the Lamborghini Countach and Miura, Mini Innocenti, Alfa Romeo Carabo and Lancio Stratos. He introduced scissor doors in the automobile world.
Tata hired him to design the TaMo Racemo sportscar—their first entry at the Geneva Motor Show in 2017. The two-seater sports car grabbed eyeballs for its stylish exterior and scissor doors. Two variants were offered—the road-based Racemo and track-ready Racemo+.
His notable designs emerged while he was working with the Italian company Bertone from the mid-1960s to 1980. The lines of cars are the Alfa Romeo Montreal, the Maserati Khamsin, the original Volkswagen Polo and the Ferrari 308 GT4.
Born in Turin on August 26, 1938, Gandini's father was an orchestra conductor. He dropped out of school at 18 to pursue design and engineering and joined Gruppo Bertone at 27. When he left Bertone a few years later, he was the style director of the company.
By 1966, he moved the position of the engine of the Lamborghini Miura to the mid-rear position behind the driver's seat. It was the first supercar which introduced a change and the later racing-car makers followed it. In the 1968 Paris Motor Show, he first introduced the Alfa Romeo 33 Carabo with wedge-shaped outlines and scissor doors. His most iconic design came forth in 1973, the Lamborghini Countach LP400. By 1979, he landed a company with his wife Claudia. The company was named Clama Srl, which collaborated with Renault, Maserati, Nissan, Toyota, and Subaru. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, he was a freelancer and created some innovative work including Renault, Maserati, and Bugatti. In January 2024, the Polytechnic Institute of Turin awarded him an honorary degree in mechanical engineering.
Gandini had another, more personal, link to India. At his 17th-century home and studio outside Turin, he had a pet German Shepherd named Baloo, after the bear in Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book.
Lamborghini took to X to pay homage to Gandini: "Marcello Gandini left an indelible mark in both car design and Lamborghini's history, and our thoughts and condolences are with his family at this time."
Leading Indian automobile designer Pratap Bose wrote on X, "Marcello Gandini, one of the greatest car designers ever, is no more. His creation graced countless boys' and girls' walls across the world. The Miura, Diablo, and Countach were some of his masterworks. Buon Viaggio Maestro, your work will live on in our hearts and on our streets."
