The Vincenzo Lancia’s discoveries
In the year marking the 120th anniversary of Lancia’s founding, it is reasonable to expect a number of publications recounting the entire history of the company or its glory years in racing, perhaps taking advantage of its recent return to rallying.

But for Dutch journalist Wim Oude Weernink, author of numerous books on the brand, including “La Lancia,” considered a veritable “bible” for fans of the Turin-based brand, the moment most deserving of being brought back into the spotlight is not that one, but an earlier one.

In his new book, “Automobili Lancia – Vincenzo’s Formative Era 1906-1925” Oude Weernink has chosen to examine Lancia’s first twenty years of activity, starting a little before the company’s foundation with the origins and racing experiences of its owner and continuing through the first emblematic models, from the Alfa to the Trikappa, the prelude and inspiration for the revolution that would come with the Lambda. He focuses, above all, on the innovative spirit and research that characterized those two decades, the real key to Vincenzo Lancia’s early success.

History, technology, and design blend seamlessly in the extensive collection of over 300 images, which includes a wealth of previously unpublished material from archives that have never been explored before. Vintage photos and publications, drawings, and technical diagrams are scattered throughout 134 surprising pages.

The narrative is structured in a dozen chapters, including those dedicated to engines and the origins of the famous narrow V architecture, the attempted American adventure and the first trucks, followed by brief technical data sheets on the nine car models examined in the book.

Datasheet

Automobili Lancia – Vincenzo’s Formative Era 1906-1925
Publisher: Simon Stevin, Division of Draaiboomken nv
Author: Wim Oude Weernink
Size: a bound volume measuring 28,4 x 21,7 x 3,5 cm
Pages: 134 overall
Text: english
Photographs: 345 in color and b/w
Price: 75 euros

A story you can touch

Books are born to convey emotions, even more so when they tell dynamic and engaging stories such as those of the great car manufacturers. Lamborghini is one of those names that, on its own, is enough to ignite the imagination. However, in an already very rich and constantly expanding publishing landscape, identifying a new and convincing interpretation is a challenge that is anything but simple. The volume “Automobili Lamborghini – Past, Present, Future” succeeds in its intent, proposing itself – from the end of 2025 also in a special edition with a box set – thanks to an original idea that expands the reader’s sensory experience: a package of great refinement, capable of satisfying not only the eye, but also the touch.

Ferruccio Lamborghini

Published by White Star and written by journalist Simonluca Pini, who has poured into it all the experiences he has had by closely following Lamborghini’s path through often exclusive events, the volume goes far beyond a simple excursus, albeit complete and precise, on the history of the brand and its models, with particular attention to aspects related to design. From the cover upholstery, made with the same technical fabric used for the seats of the Sant’Agata supercars, to the special box with a carbon-effect finish, the work aims to give the reader back the atmosphere that you breathe sitting behind the wheel of a Lamborghini, even before delving into its more than 270 pages.

Lamborghini Miura

Miura drawings

All the phases of the story find space: from the adventure of the founder Ferruccio Lamborghini, through the most complex period marked by frequent changes of ownership, up to the rebirth of the 2000s, all the models, concept cars and the vision of the future, in a story enriched by interviews with Stephan Winkelmann and other key men. Finally, there is no lack of attention to electrification and programs for the present and the next decade, accompanied by photographs and splendid sketches that restore the purest essence of the dream at the base of every project, series and non-series. To complete the volume, a poster dedicated to the style models of the Temerario.

Lamborghini Huracán STO

Datasheet

“Lamborghini – Past. Present. Future.”
Publisher: White Star
Author: Simonluca Pini
Size: a bound volume measuring 26,5 x 30,5 x 9 cm with box
Pages: 772 overall
Text: Italian
Photographs: various in color and b/w
Price: 209 euros (on Lamborghini store)

Video browse the book here

The Giant’s dream
If you’re expecting yet another roundup of cars inspired by postwar American style, you might be disappointed—at least at first. But if what you’re looking for is a perspective that’s not exactly new but certainly a little different, Designing Dreams might offer you a welcome surprise.

Because those years and that style are told by Dick Ruzzin—a veteran designer with some 40 years of experience at General Motors—from a privileged point of view, with a strong focus on context and the people behind the scenes. Chief among them, of course, is the histrionic Harley Earl, whose presence lights up like a beacon the book like he illuminated the very idea of American automotive design—and, to some extent, beyond.

While the cover prominently features the silhouette of the 1951 Buick Le Sabre concept—one of Earl’s signature creations—the real hero of the book is the 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado, a front-wheel-drive sports car that stands as a milestone between the opulence of the ’50s and the muscle car era that occupies much of the narrative.

Perhaps the least “American” trait of this book—also available as an eBook on major platforms—is its format: compact, yet rich in content. Across 176 pages densely packed with text and accompanied by an unspecified number of color and black-and-white photos, as well as sketches, the book unfolds over 26 chapters, offering few preambles and many fresh angles. It’s ideal for those who think you can’t build a compelling story around a single car.

Datasheet
Designing Dreams
Publisher: Veloce Publishing
Author: Dick Ruzzin
Size: bound volume measuring 21 x 25 x 2 cm with hard cover
Pages: 176
Text: English
Photographs: various in color and b/w
Price: 29,99 usd

Design Beyond Design
If there’s one company that has made industrial vision—more than style—its winning trait, that company is Italdesign. In over 50 years, the firm founded by Giorgetto Giugiaro has carved out a key role alongside major manufacturers, while helping emerging players take their first steps—without ever giving in to the temptation of becoming a manufacturer itself.

This story, from its founding by Giugiaro and Aldo Mantovani to its acquisition by the Volkswagen Group, is of course told and illustrated with care in “italdesign – Engineers of ideas”, but not right away. First published in 2024 in Italian and now available in an English-language edition, this large volume opens much like a great film: it begins in the present, portraying what Italdesign is and does today, before diving into a long and substantial flashback covering the company’s origins and the remarkable trajectory of the Giugiaro family.

Great space is dedicated to the production phase, to prototyping, and to the technologies that transformed the legendary pencil strokes of the founders—and the many talented designers who worked alongside them—into solid form. It’s a legacy who the Moncalieri-based company (near Turin) still proudly carries today.

Aldo Colonetti and Valentina Croci, with Italdesign itself, have opted for a clean and elegant layout, never overwhelming: the pages are neither packed with text nor crowded with images. Instead, enlargements and close-up details take center stage. Across 288 pages, the photographs in color and black and white are arranged with care.

Naturally, the final section is dedicated to recent work: prototypes, special cars such as the Quintessenza and the limited-edition Nissan GT-R, as well as projects beyond the automotive world, from home appliances to furniture and micromobility concepts. Before the bibliography and references, the book closes with a concise timeline listing all Italdesign cars from 1967 to today.

Datasheet
Italdesign – Engineers of ideas
Publisher: Giorgio Nada – Giunti
Author: Aldo Colonetti e Valentina Croci
Size: bound volume measuring 26 x 28,5 x 3 cm with hard cover
Pages: 288
Text: English
Photographs: hundreds in color and b/w
Price: 60 euros

Waiting for the Centennial
Among the many initiatives marking Pininfarina’s 95th anniversary—a milestone that serves as both a celebration and a prelude to the brand’s centenary in 2030—a new book could not be missing. New in more ways than one: although only five years have passed since the last official publication, also released by Giorgio Nada Editore, this volume is less an update and more a reimagining. Unlike the previous edition, which featured contributions from several authors, this one bears the name of a single writer: Luca dal Monte, adding another prestigious title to his personal bibliography.

Produced in close collaboration with the atelier in Cambiano, the book retraces the company’s entire journey—not just in the automotive world, but across a variety of sectors, from other forms of transportation like trains and boats to everyday objects and even architecture. Yet, while Pininfarina’s multifaceted identity is a relatively recent development, the enduring allure of the name—or rather, the brand—still evokes visions of past automobiles, to which the book dedicates ample space.

However, this is not a conventional chronicle, or at least not entirely. Divided into just seven chapters, each one bears a title that reflects a key theme at the intersection of art and industry—hallmarks of this great design house: Family, Beauty, Creativity, Craftsmanship, Technology and Innovation, Sustainability, and Vision. It’s a story that unfolds as a journey toward the future, spanning 240 pages and featuring over 400 photographs. It honors every model that became a symbol of its era and of Italian design excellence, while simultaneously looking in all directions. To satisfy those who know exactly what they’re looking for—and to surprise them with the unexpected.

Datasheet
Pininfarina 95 – Timeless Beauty
Publisher: Giorgio Nada
Author: Luca Dal Monte
Size: bound volume measuring 24 x 27 x 2,5 cm with hard cover
Pages: 240
Text: Italian and english
Photographs: over 400 in color and b/w
Price: 55 euros

Chris Bangle and the Lateral Thinking of Car Design
Original, at times controversial and unapologetically unconventional, Chris Bangle is just the right person to talk about car design in a direct and sharp tone—laying out, with the right touch of irony and clear awareness, everything many people think but few dare to say.

His book, Reading Between the Lines of Car Design, is a recommended read for anyone who’s a passionate observer of automotive styling. It delivers exactly what the title promises, in an engaging and relaxed tone: over the course of roughly 240 pages, it offers not only an overview of the different phases in design history but also a sharp look at clichés and trends, interspersed with personal anecdotes and chapters dedicated to both iconic figures and lesser-known names—each presented with remarkable clarity and insight in just a few well-chosen words.
And that’s perhaps the book’s greatest strength: each of the 102 topics is explored over just two pages, accompanied by lively, hand-drawn sketches by the author himself that enhance the informal tone of a work refreshingly free of rhetoric.

Every section—including the short foreword by John Bell, which ironically ends up being the longest passage in the entire book—is like a snapshot, a concise and essential take, stripped of all unnecessary weight. What we’re holding, most likely, is a compact encyclopedia of lateral thinking applied to design, rounded off with a brief yet valuable bibliography in which the author recommends key readings for young designers entering such a fascinating world and profession.
Often described as “the most influential designer of his generation,” Chris Bangle may well have found, in this book, his ultimate statement as a free thinker with a pencil in hand.

Datasheet
Leggere tra le righe del car design
Publisher: Minerva
Author: Chris Bangle
Size: bound volume measuring 15 x 23 x 1,5 cm with hard cover
Pages: 240
Text: Italian
Photographs: many, in b/w
Price: 25 euros

Inside the story of a car tailor

Ago, filo, pelle (Needle, thread, leather): the materials and tools seen in expert hands on the book’s cover photo also form the title of this volume, which tells the story of Francesco Gavina—one of the truest tailor artisans in the world of automotive. His name may not be widely known to the public, but it is well respected and appreciated within the inner circle of four-wheeled creativity. Written by Fulvia Fatma Valenzano Pasta, who has skillfully translated Gavina’s vivid oral storytelling into a written narrative to celebrate his 90th birthday, this is not an encyclopedic volume but a compact, 124-page book that foremost recounts the life of a man and a family. A story that did not begin in the car world, but which ultimately found its greatest expression there.

Commissioned by Pierfranco Gavina, Francesco’s son and successor at the helm of Salt Gavina, the book explores the roots of the family’s artisanal tradition, the founder’s early experience in coachbuilding, and the expertise refined over the years in creating special trims, upholsteries and interiors—often one-offs—for dream cars, prototypes, and concept vehicles.

The volume features two prestigious guests’ contribution: a prefaction signed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and a brief but heartfelt tribute from Alfredo Stola at the close of chapter twenty. Actually, the entire book is studded with big names in the Italian and international car design scene: from Ercole Spada to Marcello Gandini, Bruno Sacco, and again Coggiola, De Tomaso, Vignale, Pininfarina… Many of these names – or their representatives and successors – were present on May 8 at the Beinasco headquarters, near Turin, to celebrate Francesco Gavina and attend the book launch, paying tribute to a story that contains so many others.

Datasheet

Needle, Thread, Leather – The Story of Francesco Gavina, the Car Tailor
Publisher: Abra Books
Author: Fulvia Fatma Valenzano Pasta
Size: paperback, 17.3 x 23.5 x 0.8 cm, soft cover
Pages: 124
Language: Italian
Photographs: color and b/w
Price: 23.00 euros

Marcello Gandini at a glance

The most significant tribute to Marcello Gandini following his passing in March 2024 does not come in the form of an expanded work but, rather, as a revised and… condensed reedition. Renowned automotive journalist Gautam Sen has revisited the most comprehensive book ever dedicated to the legendary designer—originally published in 2016 as a two-volume set of 400 pages each—and reissued it in a slightly reduced format. “Slightly”, because the book is composed over 600 pages and features more than 1,000 photographs and drawings, ensuring that the vastness and significance of Gandini’s work are properly celebrated.

A quick glance at the index is enough to understand the book’s quality: four pages listing nearly 150 chapters that, following a series of brief forewords, meticulously document every vehicle—cars, concepts, motorcycles, and other projects—created, developed, or even just envisioned by the Maestro.
His durable role at Bertone is extensively covered, beginning with the 1966 Porsche 911 Roadster proposal and extending into the 1980s with the Citroën BX and Alfa Romeo 90. Along the way, readers will encounter milestones such as the Lancia Stratos Zero, the Fiat X1/9, the Dino 308 GT4, and, of course, every Lamborghini production model, and major concept, from the Miura to the Diablo.
The book then moves into Gandini’s Renault period, highlighted by the Supercinque and the groundbreaking AE Magnum truck, before delving into his extense work from 1987 to 2011

Accompanying the text are around 900 photographs – 700 of them in color – and about 100 original drawings and sketches, carefully selected from archives that, at the time of the book’s first publication in 2016, were largely unpublished. For those who missed out on the original limited-edition box set – some copies of which were even personally signed by the author and by Gandini himself – this reedition offers a fantastic second chance to own a definitive tribute to one of the greatest minds in automotive design.

Flippable preview of the volume here.

Datasheet
Marcello Gandini, Maestro of Design – Revisited
Publisher: Dalton Watson Fine Book
Author: Gautam Sen
Size: bound volume measuring 22 x 31 x 4 cm with hard cover
Pages: 625
Text: English
Photographs: 700 in color and 200 in b/w
Price: 170 euros

A Porsche for Every Year of Porsche

Seventy-five cars may seem like a staggering number for a “specialized” manufacturer like Porsche, yet when you consider that the brand’s history now spans three-quarters of a century, it averages out to just one per year. That doesn’t mean the task was easy for automotive journalist and historian Alvise Marco Seno, who took on the challenge of selecting the most representative models from this long and storied period.

The extensive lineup includes all the most significant models, from the legendary mid-engine 356 No.1 to the all-electric Taycan. For the most iconic nameplates, the book covers all the key generations and evolutions of the 356 and 911, the various 924/944/968 series, grand tourers like the 928, the Boxster and Cayman, SUVs, and sedans from the modern era, along with many special models.

Somewhere between a historical account and a curated catalog, this volume also explores the evolution of Porsche’s design language and individual models, featuring concise technical data sheets and a selection of original sketches interspersed among nearly 500 color photographs and more than 70 black-and-white images.

All the cars featured in the book are road-going models, though there are plenty of references and images of their racing derivatives, as well as supercars that were essentially race cars adapted for the road – like the 917 and the various GT2, GT3, and RS models, which are often significant for their design innovations as well.

Concept cars are totally absent, with a single exception of the 2023 Mission X unveiled by Porsche to mark its anniversary and included as a true incarnation of the brand’s future – coincidentally, around the same time the book went to print.

More information here.

Datasheet
Porsche 75 – Settantacinque vetture che hanno fatto la storia
Publisher: Giorgio Nada
Author: Alvise Marco Seno
Size: bound volume measuring 26 x 28,5 x 3 cm with hard cover
Pages: 288
Text: Italian
Photographs: 489 in color and 73 in b/w
Price: 60 euros

Forty-six, fifty-one, sixty-three: behind these three numbers are the “coordinates” of Porsche’s official debut in racing, the beginning of an adventure made up of successes, victories and records won in almost every automotive discipline. To the protagonist of that historic moment, a 356 that came first of sports cars up to 1.1 liters, at the 1951 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, is dedicated the volume “46: The Birth of Porsche Motorsport” published by Dalton Watson and signed by a set of experts, historians and photographers. The number recalled in the title is a race ID, the other two indicate respectively the year and the chassis number of that car, which was also able to emerge at the Liège-Rome-Liège rally and the Monthléry Salon cup before setting sail for America from which it returned only a few years ago to take its place at the Porsche museum after careful restoration.

The book celebrates not only the history of this car, but also its contribution to starting Porsche’s sporting era and its role of inspiration for the design of endurance racing cars. Great care was taken to make it more aerodynamic, replacing some windows with louvers and fairing the wheel as well. Three of the first five chapters concerning the car’s conception, construction, and development, concluding with a chronicle of the races, while the three of the second parts runs through that the American experience. Finding, restoring and returning to the scene are covered in the final five chapters followed by an additional 36 pages of appendices with bibliography and references of the more than 500 photographs in the work, some of which are unpublished as are many of the original documents reproduced.

Flippable preview of the volume here.

Datasheet

Forty Six: The Birth of Porsche Motorsport
Publisher: Dalton Watson Fine Book
Author: Randy Leffingwell, Doug Nye, Sean Cridland
Size: bound volume measuring 29 x 25,4 x 3,1 cm with hard cover
Pages: 336
Text: English
Photographs: 500 in color and b/w
Price: 155 euros