Home » Car-Design Icon Giugiaro Crashes New Land Rover Defender, Credits Survival To Modern Safety

Car-Design Icon Giugiaro Crashes New Land Rover Defender, Credits Survival To Modern Safety

Giugiaro Crash Ts1
ADVERTISEMENT

Legendary automotive designer Giorgetto Giugiaro is in stable condition following a harrowing rollover crash in Italy. The Italian automotive publication, Quattroruote, reported on the incident and the famed designer’s injuries. The longstanding magazine also noted that although Giugiaro resides nearby, the road he was traveling on is particularly sketchy and prone to crashes:

Giorgetto Giugiaro is miraculously alive: after a serious accident yesterday around 1 p.m. in Sardinia, the designer suffered multiple injuries, including a vertebra, his face, and his lower limbs. 

The legendary “pencil man,” who turns 87 on August 7, was driving his [Land Rover] Defender in Abbiadori (Costa Smeralda) when he lost control on a hairpin bend, plunging 15 meters to the road below. Without involving other vehicles or people, the vehicle overturned several times on the treacherous stretch of road, also due to its winding terrain, which is often the scene of accidents.

Although first responders were quick to the scene, the seemingly spry Giugiaro was quicker. He had already extricated himself from his mangled SUV and was waiting for emergency services when they arrived. As Quattroruote detailed:

Vidframe Min Top
Vidframe Min Bottom

Emergency medical services, the Arzachena Fire Department, and the local police are immediately on the scene, ascertaining the circumstances of the accident. Giugiaro was waiting for them, standing on his own two feet, like a 15-year-old after a fall from his bike. He was airlifted to the Giovanni Paolo II Hospital in Olbia. 

“Fortunately, my father is fine; he’s very resilient,” explains his son Fabrizio. “He’s under observation and will be in a brace for 20 days. In 48 hours, he’ll be leaving the hospital for Turin. Our entire family is relieved that no one else was involved in the accident. Dad, miraculously unharmed despite the flight, is annoyed that he won’t be able to ride his motorcycle in August.”

Here’s a video of the scene posted on Teleregione Live – Sardegna‘s YouTube channel:

Here’s another from Tiktok user daniele_teo:

ADVERTISEMENT
@daniele_teo Incidente di Giorgetto Giugiaro a Porto Cervo #costasmeralda ♬ suono originale – Daniele

Giugiaro may be irritated about his injuries, but he also acknowledges that modern vehicle safety is what ultimately saved him. Referencing an interview with Turin newspaper, La Stampa, the local Sardinian outlet L’Unione Sarda, recounts what Giugiaro said:

“I’m alive. And I owe it to the technology I helped, in my own small way, to shape…If I had been in a car from fifteen years ago, almost the average age of cars on Italian roads, I probably wouldn’t be here telling this story. The statistics don’t lie: a new car, with its safety features, offers seven times more chances of surviving an accident than one from fifteen years ago.”

Giugario is also very much aware of his privilege with regard to affording a newer, safer vehicle. He states in that interview:

“Safety, today, is a luxury. Those who can afford a new car have a better chance of making it home alive. In 2024, in Italy, we counted 173,364 road accidents. How many of those drivers, in older cars, weren’t as lucky as I was?” the designer asks.

“Technology saves lives, but it’s a salvation that comes at a high price…Don’t get me wrong: I’m not here to preach. I’m just a man who, having stepped out of a flipped car, looked in the mirror and saw not just a survivor, but a privileged one,” he adds.

Turning 87 next week, the renowned Italian designer has nothing left to prove. Named the “Car Designer of the Century” by journalists and an Automotive Hall of Fame inductee, Giugiaro has left an indelible mark on design history as much with his automotive creations that range from the city mini Fiat Panda to the BMW M1 supercar, to other consumer products, including motorcycles, cameras, firearms, and watches. 

But this crash may have sparked an encore. Or, at least, a redirection toward prioritizing safety in his admittedly ceaseless creativity. Knowing his hospital visit was a brief detour, Giugiaro said, per L’Unione Sarda,:

ADVERTISEMENT

“Now I’m in Turin, in my creative lair, where ideas never stop, not even with a brace…And perhaps, who knows, from this misadventure a new line will be born, a new idea, a new way of thinking about safety. Because the future, like cars, is designed one line at a time.”

Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on whatsapp
WhatsApp
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on linkedin
LinkedIn
Share on reddit
Reddit
Subscribe
Notify of
11 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Manuel Verissimo
Manuel Verissimo
1 hour ago

Damn, that one badass 87 year old. Just wants to ride his motorcycle after a near death experience.

Hoonicus
Hoonicus
1 hour ago

Or, some never grow up. At least he didn’t drive the economy off the cliff with him.

Hoonicus
Hoonicus
1 hour ago

“Giugiaro resides nearby”,”Without involving other vehicles or people”
It’s great he is going to be alright, but wonder what caused it. Maybe time for a chauffeur.

Tbird
Tbird
2 hours ago

A 2009 Vibe gave it’s life to save our daughter, T-bone collision with full side airbag deployment. She was shaken, not stirred. I wonder what would have happened in an older car, even the non-side airbag 2007 Corolla her mom drives and loves. Let alone the Malaise era product I owned at her age.

She replaced the Vibe with a very high milage ’08 Prius. Best luck so far (I’m a Toyota hybrid owner and fan).

Ranwhenparked
Ranwhenparked
2 hours ago

In my day, we didn’t need seatbelts to restrain you if your car crashed. If you stopped suddenly, you knew exactly where you were going – straight through the windshield. That’s the way it was, and we liked it!

Tbird
Tbird
2 hours ago
Reply to  Ranwhenparked

Dad’s arm was our seatbelt growing up…. Times are honestly better now.

AlterId, redux
AlterId, redux
52 minutes ago
Reply to  Ranwhenparked

Only if you were in the passenger’s seat. If you were driving the steering column would hold you in place like a memo spike.

Ignatius J. Reilly
Ignatius J. Reilly
4 hours ago

I spent plenty of miles in the back of a station wagon without seatbelts and riding a bike without a helmet but to all the people who want to use that type of past to make the claim that “We didn’t have helmets or seatbelts and we survived!” they should remember that the folks who would dispute that fact were the ones who didn’t.

This is a very good reminder for all the folks who feel that prioritizing safety might be going too far.

Tbird
Tbird
2 hours ago

THIS. As an 80s kid I’m sometimes amazed we lived. Once we left the house in the summer, mom honestly had no idea where we might be. A dinner yell at 4:30 was the norm.

There has to be a middle ground. Kids need the chance to be kids, and that includes unsupervised play time. At the same time we as parents need reasurance that they are safe.

Urban Runabout
Urban Runabout
1 minute ago
Reply to  Tbird

AirTags sewn into a kids underwear should be enough.

Manuel Verissimo
Manuel Verissimo
1 hour ago

Survivor bias is a hell of a thing.

Recent Posts

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
11
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x