"I'm alive. And I owe it to the technology I helped, in my own small way, to shape." Giorgetto Giugiaro, a historic car designer who survived an accident in Arzachena at the age of 87 after his car overturned and ended up in a ravine, said this in an interview with La Stampa. "If I had been in a car from fifteen years ago, almost the average age of cars on Italian roads, I probably wouldn't be here telling this story. The statistics don't lie: a new car, with its safety features , offers seven times more chances of surviving an accident than one from fifteen years ago."
But here a wound opens. "One of those reflections that weighs more than a crumpled off-road vehicle. Safety, today, is a luxury. Those who can afford a new car have a better chance of making it home alive. In 2024, in Italy, we counted 173,364 road accidents. How many of those drivers, in older cars, weren't as lucky as I was?" the designer asks.
"Technology saves lives, but it's a salvation that comes at a high price. And this, for someone like me, who has always wanted to design cars for everyone, is a burning thought. Don't get me wrong: I'm not here to preach. I'm just a man who, having stepped out of a flipped car, looked in the mirror and saw not just a survivor, but a privileged one," he adds.
"Now I'm in Turin, in my creative lair, where ideas never stop, not even with a brace," he concludes. "And perhaps, who knows, from this misadventure a new line will be born, a new idea, a new way of thinking about safety. Because the future, like cars, is designed one line at a time."
(Unioneonline)
