Audi Group has agreed a strategic partnership with U.S. technology firm UST, which will acquire a majority stake in Italian design and engineering house Italdesign. Lamborghini, Italdesign’s current parent within the Audi Group, will retain a significant stake, leaving Audi as a long-term strategic partner and key client.
Audi said the deal is meant to pair UST’s strengths in AI-powered technology, automotive engineering and software-defined vehicle development with Italdesign’s capabilities in vehicle design, prototyping, small-series production and automotive electronics.
Together, the firms plan to offer an integrated service stack “from early concept and design to hardware and software development through to production systems” to support fully digital, software-rich vehicles.
As the new majority owner, UST will take over operational responsibility while using its presence in more than 30 countries to help Italdesign expand globally. Audi CTO Geoffrey Bouquot called UST “the ideal partner to strengthen Italdesign’s solid foundation while opening new market opportunities.” Italdesign CEO Antonio Casu said the goal is to become “the first full integrator of hardware and software worldwide” across automotive and other industrial sectors.
The transaction hints towards growing demand for external partners that can span styling, engineering and digital platform work as the industry shifts toward software-defined vehicles.