Which Italian design house styled the BMW M1?

Italdesign styled the BMW M1. BMW commissioned the Italian design house, with Giorgetto Giugiaro leading the body design and drawing inspiration from BMW’s 1972 Turbo concept car.

The M1 was conceived as a mid-engine racing car, so its shape had to combine dramatic proportions with the practical requirements of a competition machine and a road-going homologation model. Italdesign developed the fiberglass body and completed the body and interior work at its Turin facility. The chassis and engineering were handled through a wider network of specialists, including Lamborghini during the project’s early phase.

Production became complicated after Lamborghini’s financial difficulties caused BMW to take the program back in 1978. Specialist firms made the chassis and body, Baur performed final assembly in Germany, and BMW Motorsport inspected the completed cars. This multi-country production story is why the M1 is sometimes associated with Lamborghini or Baur, but those companies did not style the car. Italdesign’s role was specifically its design and body-related work, while BMW supplied the mechanical identity and engineering direction.