Italdesign has been teasing something "extraordinary" for this year's Geneva Motor Show. Previous teaser images have hinted at a fast and furious supercar with a large rear wing, but the bespoke car company will also be premiering a new sub-brand at the show. Called "Italdesign Automobili Speciali," the new brand will focus on building "ultra-low series production" cars aimed at collectors, starting with its unnamed supercar limited to just five units.

Speaking about the design of the new Italdesign Automobili Speciali logo featuring a bull's head, head of innovation design Filippo Perini explained how it was inspired by the symbol of the city of Turin, Italy, to reflect the prestige of the company. "In this city the history of Italian automobile was born, the most famous and prestigious carmakers were born, as well as the 'coachbuilders' who made the Italian car design famous worldwide," he said. "Besides, it's the city which hosted, from 1968 to 1974, the first Headquarters of Italdesign. With this logo therefore we wanted to celebrate the passion and the know-how that ideally unite Italdesign and Turin."

It's a bold new direction for Italdesign which has strayed away from production in recent years, partnering with automakers and building wacky one-off concepts instead. In its early days the bespoke carmaker was known for its limited production models, such examples cited by the company include the the iconic BMW M1, the Aztec prototype, the BMW Nazca and Volkswagen W12. More cars from the company that designed the BMW M1 can only be a good thing. "We stated in 2016 that we do have the competences in styling, development and production of street-legal ultra low series cars," CEO Jörg Astalosch said.

"Today, one year later, we are delivering the first running testimonial", he followed up. "This part of our business has been now integrated into our existing service portfolio. This is styling, engineering, prototyping for small and high volume production vehicles, especially also as a turnkey competence. One example for these services in general is the recently launched Audi Q2." More projects will follow later in the year, but for now we'll have to wait and see what Italdesign Automobili Speciali has in store for us at Geneva in just under three weeks.