Born for limited production, the Scirocco was instead an overwhelming success: half a million units built, in its greatest moment of glory it was to reach a daily production rate of 420 cars. Its highly graphic design recalls the features of the Asso di Picche (although preceding it chronologically, having been designed first). The Scirocco was the first mass production car to use a rear hatch whose cut folds over onto the side. A true technological revolution, it was to be copied throughout the world. Historically speaking, though, the credit for this idea goes to the Golf design that, although it was officially presented a few months later, was born first thus deeply influencing the technical aspects of the Scirocco.

At the end of summer 1969, Gerhard R. Gumpert - Volkswagen's Italian importer - had been asked by Kurt Lotz, CEO of the German manufacturer, to explore the various opportunities offered by the Turin Motor Show to find someone who could help relaunch the brand with two new cars: the first model would be for the mid-size sector, with a newly-designed 1500 cc engine (the Passat, with either two or four doors), while the second model would be the one to take over from the Beetle and this would be the Golf.

On a style level, the model fell "victim" to several modifications, a compromise between the formal issues expressed on some of the research models carried forward by Giugiaro for the Audi and Volkswagen brands: initially, it was conceived as a version of the Golf but in a larger form (a change dictated by the desire to create a family identity between the two models). With the changes in Volkswagen's senior management and the arrival - at a time of economic crisis - of the new President Rudolf Leiding, the project was dramatically revised.

The range would see the fusion of the platform, the front end, and the door seal proposed for the Audi 80 with the rear boxes of the first "Maxi Golf" project and the rear windscreen ribs of the Golf and the Scirocco. Despite development and production complications, the Passat was a resounding commercial success: from 1973 to 1980, in the sedan and station wagon versions, over 2 million units were produced.

As with the Cheetah, an existing platform and mechanical assembly (those of the Audi 80) were to be used, and a shape laid out that, while rich in forward-looking touches, would lend itself to limited production. Giugiaro took off from the geometrical features of the Boomerang the trapeziums, tracing out an extremely graphic, eye-catching shape. While keeping the length of the Audi 80 unchanged, he worked on the overhangs, shortening the one at the rear and lengthening the front one to give more rake to the car. The Asso di Picche was very clearly to influence the design of the Delta (1979): the treatment of the surface areas is identical, as is the cross-section.

Colin Chapman, the founding father of Lotus Cars Ltd. and the Formula 1 team, asked Giugiaro to develop an aerodynamic supercar with a two-shell fiberglass body, intended for standard production by the Norwich automotive company using aeronautics-inspired technology.

The design of the two external half-shells, which overlap like a nut midway along the waistline, presents the special plastic processing technology adopted in the Lotus navy division. In terms of design, this project benefited from the positive input of the Maserati Boomerang. Again, the wedge shape and the tilt of the windshield are excessive at 18 degrees for a model intended for the production of thousands of vehicles.

Like lightning, the Esprit enlivened the automotive scene and when, just a little while later, it faced the sea with James Bond behind the wheel (Roger Moore in “A Spy Who Loved Me”) even the least-prepared audience was forced to get to know the Lotus brand.

Powered by a four-cylinder twin-cam engine displacing 1973 cc (160 bhp at 4900 rpm), the car was first presented at the 1972 Turin Motor Show and went into production in June 1976 with a declared weight of 900 kg and a maximum speed of 222 kph. In various versions and a series of updates, the Esprit was produced from 1976 to 2004 in a total of 10,675 examples.