The ultimate italian coachbuilder site
The ultimate italian coachbuilder site
The Volkswagen Up! Azzurra Sailing Team was created by Italian designers Giorgetto Giugiaro and Walter de Silva. Italdesign’s tribute to the new Volkswagen city car, with a Mediterranean soul. Up! Azzurra Sailing Team is the modern interpretation of the Spiaggina car.
The Volkswagen Up! Azzurra: Giugiaro from Italdesign and de Silva both grew up in nautical environments. And it was in this environment that the Volkswagen Up! Azzurra Sailing Team was created – a prototype of an open, small, eco-friendly automobile for the world’s marinas. Giorgetto Giugiaro, born in Garessio – a town near the Ligurian coast where the sea breezes blow strong – and Walter de Silva – born in Lecco on Lake Como – have extended the potential range of the New Small Family here to include a nautical version. The prototype’s name comes from a yacht club on the Costa Smeralda. The Volkswagen Up! Azzurra Sailing Team retains the original character of the up! with its precise and appealing lines. Yet the concept vehicle is completely open – there are no doors or roof. This lets the driver and passengers enjoy the summer breezes, as if they were aboard a boat. High-tech and highly stylish materials are used inside the vehicle, all of which are completely waterproof, and they intentionally resemble the fittings of a luxury yacht. These features include the four seats in white-blue leather, numerous chrome components and a dashboard in mahogany with maple wood inlays. Its surfaces are coated in a synthetic resin.
The birth of the Spiaggina (Spiaggia = Beach) takes place in the immediate post-war period at the initiative of some Italian coachbuilders which transformed small mass production cars in order to make them suitable for the needs of wealthy customers during the holiday period in the seaside resorts.
