Milan Design Week 2026
Italdesign celebrates the process
Italdesign returns to Milan celebrating the process of design and showed off quite a few artefacts of its design journey
Italdesign returned to the Tortona Design District with an installation celebrating a number of its product designs and the process that brought them to fruition. The theme was called Being the Project and represents Italdesign’s vertical, integrated approach at every phase of a project, from initial concept to full project realisation. The process, as Italdesign puts it, “creates value and enables ideas to be transformed into tangible experiences.”
As a demonstration of this wide-ranging design process, Italdesign showed off a wide range of projects. Here are some highlights:
Honda NSX Tribute
Italdesign’s homage to Honda’s legendary sports car imagines the NSX’s design and engineering brought forward to 2026 (and beyond). Both the interior and exterior draw inspiration from the original NSX and the car is imagined as a very limited edition/bespoke supercar – right-hand drive only.
“The NSX Tribute is a tangible example of what Being Project means to us Italdesign Ideneers (Italdesign’s term for its designers and engineers)” said Antonio Casu, chief executive officer of Italdesign. “Although conceived as a tribute—fully respectful of the original model—the project was developed with the aim of achieving full technical maturity and being ready for a possible evolution into an ultra-limited series.”
Italdesign/Volkswagen MEB+ FWD platform
The MEB+ FWD platform was developed as joint venture with Volkswagen as a foundation for new Volkswagen group electric urban car family, it will also be licensed out to partner OEMs to streamline the cooperation and development process.
Italdesign released an image of the Volkswagen EVX design study which shows how the platform might be used, in addition to products such as the Volkswagen ID. Polo and ID. Cross concepts.
“For Italdesign, platforms are not just a technical base: they are architectures to be dressed, both creatively and physically,” explains Antonio Casu, Italdesign CEO. “It is with this approach that we brought MEB+ to Milano, presenting the new Volkswagen Group benchmark for accessible electric mobility, and reaffirming Italdesign’s ability to act as a bridge between different, demanding cooperation partners.”
Pop.Up Next
The Pop.up Next, first debuted at Geneva a few years back. A joint venture between Airbus and Italdesign, the project explores an intermodal transportation system consisting of a passenger pod that docks into a road-going ‘skateboard’ for ground transportation and a flying drone-like frame that receives the pod to create a flying car. Envisioned as a fully electric and autonomous system, it is intended to relieve congestion and extend the range of the urban car.
Gene.01 Robot
Italdesign is partnering with Generative Bionics, an Italian Robotics company to produce a humanoid robot that is superior in both design and functionality.
Generative Bionics will be responsible for all technology and the basic robot design. A combined team will design the outside using specialised ‘skin’, joints etc. Italdesign’s deep experience in industrial production will assist in creating processes that will allow Gene.01 to become viable as an industrial and technological product.
