Volkswagen Might Have Found A Buyer For Its Iconic Italian Brand

The move to sell the company that designed icons like the Golf comes as the group is looking to find ways to help it deal with increased competition and slowing sales.

Audi, which is the VW Group entity that owns Italdesign, has met with its union management about the potential sale, Reuters reports. "The management confirmed in the meeting that Audi is assessing a possible sale of Italdesign," Gianni Mannori of the Fiom union told Reuters.

Union representatives told Reuters that VW had received interest from "four or five counterparts." The representatives also said that the automaker was not considering offers from its competitors of from financial groups. Mannori said that the process could take a few months as VW looks to sell.

Italdesign-Giugiaro was founded in 1968, and it came under the VW Group in 2010 when Audi purchased 90.1 percent of the company, including the naming rights. Since its founding, the design studio has penned concept cars including the BMW M1, Hyundai Pony Coupe, Lamborghini Cala, and countless others. Its production car designs include the Maserati Bora, Lotus Esprit, Fiat Panda, Alfa Brera, and the iconic Daewoo Lacetti.

As the iconic firm prepares for a new chapter, let's take a look at some of its highs and lows over the years.

Volkswagen and Italdesign have been closely paired since former VW chair Ferdinand Piëch apprenticed there in the early 1970s. Italdesign's long line of VW production cars includes the original Volkswagen Golf, Scirocco, and Passat models.

The Move Part Of Ongoing VW Restructuring

The company is still based in Turin, where it employs around 1,150 people. While its name isn't on as many vehicles in recent years, the company is reportedly still profitable.

Numerous Volkswagen Group companies have been working to restructure in a bid to save money. Audi recently announced job cuts, including the closure of a factory that has been building VWs or Audis since 1954. An agreement between VW and the union IG Metall has saved at least two plants in Germany by agreeing to wage freezes and a reduction in the company's workforce in the country of 35,000 over the next few years. Volkswagen is also cutting vehicle production in the country, trimming nearly 750,000 units from its capacity at home, moving those models to lower-cost production sites.

The interested parties were not named. However, excluding financial groups and competitors would seem to remove a large portion of potential buyers for the company. A previous report said that VW had "non-European, non-automotive multinational engineering firms" interested. Italdesign works outside the auto industry as well as in, and is involved in the design of products ranging from home appliances and furniture to industrial machinery and medical devices.