The Giugiaro Kangaroo Electric SUV Will Enlighten Us all In Geneva as it Brings Supercar-like Features to an SUV

The Kangaroo is GFG Style's second concept in less than 12 months after last year's Sibylla that was first shown as drawings in Geneva before debuting at the Paris Auto Show. This time, the Giugiaro father and son duo has an electric SUV in store for us with supercar-like design cues, seating for two, and the ability to go 155 mph regardless of the surface it's driving on.

The latest GFG Style concept is a hyper-SUV that traces some of its design roots back to the Parcour prototype from 2013 that was designed by Fabrizio Giugiaro, son of Giorgio and co-founder of GFG Style back in 2015. That model was presented under the ItalDesign Giugiaro brand.

When Giugiaro draws a two-seater SUV, people stop and gaze

GFG Style is an automotive design company that has laid relatively low since last year's Geneva Auto Show, but, as it turns out, the silence was due to the fact that another concept was in the making. It's called 'Kangaroo' and all we've got thus far is an artwork of the front end.

What's striking is how GFG Style says the Kangaroo is an SUV although you'd be hardpressed to find any rugged features along the lines of this vehicle. Instead, you're greeted by a wide front fascia with narrow headlight openings that blend nicely with the minimalistic central panel where the GFG logo is placed under a delicate bar. Below these gentle features sit some aggressive air intakes: one in the middle with a number of extra openings to the sides as well as two more placed outboard. The ones on the sides open up straight from the SUV's bumper while the central gaping mouth is an integral part of the model's carbon fiber splitter.

Above the headlights, we can peek at the front hood - or where the hood would be on a front-engined car - and there's a blacked out middle area that works well to evidentiate the orange bodywork. The Kangaroo has what appears to be a full-blown greenhouse with glass all around as you can't really discern the A-pillars from the image provided. Also, you can spot two air intakes on top of the roof attached to a tiny fin.

As this is an electric car, those could be something else other than air vents, but we'll have to wait for the reveal at next month's Geneva Auto Show to find out more. However, we do know already that underneath that ostensibly pretty body there's an aluminum space frame chassis and that the body in its entirety is made out of carbon fiber, not just some bits like the splitter. The car's EV architecture was co-developed by GMG Style and CH Auto.

"Currently, we are only revealing the ‘eyes’ of this extraordinary concept that, as in our tradition, will be completely unveiled in Geneva and drivable after the show on any terrain," said Fabrizio Giugiaro in a statement. GFG Style says a 0 to 62 mph time of just 3.5 seconds and a top speed of 155 mph are aimed. If GFG's plans to open a facility in Shanghai, China in cooperation with a Chinese backer come to fruition, we might actually see Giugiaro-penned cars on the roads again sooner rather than later.

While SUVs could be the first new Giugiaro production vehicles in years, according to Fabrizio who told Autoblog last year that "two SUVs will launch in 2019 in the Chinese market for a Chinese brand", the Giugiaro name returned in the spotlight with the Sibylla. This four-door crossover was mainly designed by Giorgetto himself and was presented at the 2018 Paris Auto Show as the 'Sibylla GG 80' to mark the 80th birthday of the legend that is Giorgetto Giugiaro. The name of the prototype also honors Giorgetto's mother, Maria "Sibylla" Giugiaro.

To create the Sibylla, GFG collaborated with Envision, employing the Chinese company's " EnOS electricity system concept, in which EVs integrate into a wider energy ecosystem by contributing power to domestic houses and the grid at peak times and drawing back from it at lower usage moments," according to Autoblog. The car's power comes from a 100 kWh battery which is enough for an output of 536 horsepower, a 0 to 62 mph time of under 4.5 seconds and a top speed in excess of 124 mph. The Sibylla's range is stated to be in the 280-mile region.

Giugiaro and ItalDesign

You might know Giugiaro for his countless classic designs but his and his son's latest works came when they were still working with ItalDesign as ItalDesign Giugiaro. Giorgetto and his son left ItalDesign in 2015, five years after Giugiaro sold the company to Volkswagen. It was unveiled back in 2013 and, yes, the name does refer to Parkour, the art of dodging the urban scenery as best as you can while running and jumping at full speed.

Like the Kangaroo, the Parcour was said to be a machine capable of driving fast on any sort of road and even when there's no road in sight. The top speed was quoted as 198 mph and ItalDesign told pundits at the time that the Parcour could reach 62 mph from a standstill in just 3.6 seconds.

Somehow, the prototype - which looks vaguely like a Urus if Lamborghini decided to make a two-door version of its super-SUV and take inspiration from Gandini's Stratos - is road legal and, once you climb inside by opening the gullwing-style doors, you find out there are four driving modes: Road, Race, Off-road and Snow/ice. If you jerk the knob to 'Off-road' the Parcour rises up and you get 4.3 inches of extra ride height which is 3.3 inches more than what a Land Rover Discovery 110 has to offer.

Under the exotic body, there's the engine from a Lamborghini Gallardo: the 5.2-liter 542 horsepower V-10 which sends power to all four wheels. The suspension is what Giugiaro called at the time "Pushrod 2.0". Autocar details: "Instead of using a conventional pushrod to activate the main spring, it uses a coilover spring and damper unit. This means there are two coilovers per corner, so eight in all." The British magazine's conclusion was on a positive note, underlining that "It has advantages over a typical supercar. Even in its road setting, the Parcour can cope with curbs and speed bumps, and it was easy to drive across the sand up to the Sardinian foreshore". This throwback to the Parcour is my way of gauging what we can expect from the Kangaroo.

Since the Parcour and the split with Giugiaro, ItalDesign has moved on and launched at the 2017 Geneva Auto Show the Zerouno followed in 2018 by an open-top version. It proves that there's life for ItalDesign after Giugiaro and, happily, for Giugiaro after ItalDesign.

It's also great to know that the soon-to-be 81-year-old Giorgetto has no plans of retiring yet and also has the courage to move on and come up with new designs 51 years after he founded what would become ItalDesign. The prodigious Italian designer is behind over 200 production cars and concepts and was named Car Designer of the Century precisely 20 years ago. He is the man you should thank for when you next drool while looking at a Maserati Bora, Lotus Esprit, DeLorean DMC-12 or the De Tomaso Mangusta.