Zagato

Carrozzeria Zagato was founded in Milan by Ugo Zagato, in 1919, with the intention of transferring to the automotive sector the notions of aeronautical technology learned during the war period, when he had worked for the Aeroplane Factory Ing. O. Pomilio. The first realization was a bodywork that recalled the shape of an airplane nacelle, applied to the chassis with wooden side members of a Fiat 501. Zagato bodies immediately stood out for their advanced design, light weight and excellent aerodynamics. Ugo Zagato’s great insight, already in the first half of the 1920s, was to abandon the use of wooden structures, replacing them with shapely and essential steel frames topped by lightweight aluminum bodies. Out of his studies came special versions of production models of various car manufacturers, both Italian like Lancia, Maserati and Alfa Romeo but also foreign like Aston Martin. Notoriety came with the Alfa Romeos bodied in the 1930s, such as the 6C 1500 Compressor of 1929, the 6C 1750 Gran Sport (1932), and the 8C 2300. After World War II, activity resumed with the so-called “Panoramica” series (1946), designed by Vieri Rapi based on a design for the Isotta Fraschini Monterosa. The Panoramica were two-seater berlinettas characterized by their large windows (with additional glass above the windshield). Zagato’s business had a real boom in the 1950s and 1960s, especially in the field of Grand Touring cars: Maserati, Lancia, Aston Martin, Abarth, without neglecting the “old love” Alfa Romeo, were dressed with streamlined and aerodynamic lines (characteristic of the Milanese coachbuilder’s cars was the “double bubble” roof). From the 1970s Zagato, under the leadership of Elio Zagato, son of the founder Ugo, as orders from the big car manufacturers dwindled, began to take an interest in industrial design as well. n more recent times the company has come under the management of Andrea Zagato (grandson of the founder) and has its new headquarters in Rho, in the Milanese hinterland: its factory occupies an area of 23,000 square meters, 11,000 of which are covered.  Zagato’s most recent operations include the design for ATM Milano (2001 Compasso d’Oro Award) of the Eurotram based on the Bombardier Flexity Outlook. It also showed up at the Geneva motor show in 2007 with the Diatto Ottovù concept. In 2010 it celebrated Alfa Romeo’s centenary by presenting the Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa, which won the design concept award at the Concorso d’eleganza Villa d’Este; a year later it began small-series production of the TZ3 Stradale. In 2012 Zagato collaborated with BMW to create the BMW Zagato Coupé concept, built on a Z4 base and presented at Villa d’Este. In 2015, the Thunder Power Sedan, an electric car made by Taiwanese Thunder, is presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show. More recently it is worth mentioning the collaboration with Aston Martin, the Mostro Coupé and Mostro Barchetta Powered by Maserati, the revival of the Iso Rivolta with the GTZ and the Alfa Romeo Giulia SWB.