Italdesign: People Awards win "meaningful recognition" for studio engineering team

Italdesign's studio engineering team was voted best in the business at the 2025 Car Design News People Awards, and CTO Davide Casini says the win has sparked new industry connections. 

The category, sponsored by Vital Auto, had some fierce competition from the likes of Changan, firefly, General Motors, Hyundai, Kia, Mahindra and Volvo, but it was the Italian team that took the honours. 

“Receiving the CDN People Award as Best Studio Engineering Team was a meaningful recognition of the value of our approach, combining creativity with engineering rigor to turn visions into concrete processes, tools, and products," Casini told Car Design News this week. "For us, it meant a clear acknowledgment of the work carried out by the team and of the method we have developed and continued to enhance over time."

"Beyond the pride for the team," he continues, "this award has created opportunities for dialogue and connection within the international design and engineering community. It was both a milestone and a motivation to continue along this path with consistency and focus, delivering integrated solutions that respond to the evolving complexity of mobility."

Italdesign sees itself as a "vertical integrator" of technologies and competencies, and its engineering studio is ultimately a bridge between design and engineering, "integrating styling with UX research, ergonomics and usability." Based on wider discussions with other studios, this would be a fair reflection of studio engineering's role across the industry. 

For the Best Studio Engineering Team category, our independent judging panel looked for the team that best bridges the design and engineering departments to make challenging projects a reality. Entrants had to demonstrate how their team made the difference between a good design and a great one, advocating for design to push the boundaries of what is possible. 

Incoming head of design José Navarro, a longtime servant to the legendary design house, recently spoke to CDN and recognised the value of his team members, noting: "It's incredible how good our people are."

The 2026 People Awards is open for entries. Celebrate the teams and individuals behind the product with our easy-to-use online portal. Join your colleagues, heroes and potential partners by booking a table here.