M1

At the beginning of 1975 a program began to take shape in which Giugiaro’s company would join Lamborghini and BMW in developing a two-seat sports coupe with very high performance. The design came from Giugiaro, the chassis and engineering from Lamborghini, and the driveline from BMW. The aim was to boost the Bavarian company's sporting image. The BMW M1 was therefore entered in Groups 4 and 5 of the Pro Car European championship, with the races held during each Formula 1 meeting.

The design of the M1 took its cue from one of the most famous concept cars in BMW's history, the Turbo, built for the 1972 Olympics and featuring a rear-engine architecture. Giugiaro defined lines that were lighter and less imaginative than those of the Turbo concept, but had great appeal, with pop-up front headlights and a sturdy one-piece rear hood that covered both the engine and the small luggage compartment immediately behind it. The conspicuous C-pillars acted as fins linking the upper body to the truncated tail of the car.

The new mid-engined coupé - baptized as the M1 - was designed at Lamborghini (3453 cc, six-cylinder engine, 277 bhp at 6500 rpm), which was due to produce the 450 examples required for homologation. The financial crisis that struck the Sant'Agata Bolognese factory induced Giugiaro to produce the cars in his own factory at Moncalieri, for the first and only time in its history.