Apr 27, 20222 min read

The Daewoo Bucrane (ItalDesign) inspires the Maserati 3200GT

The famous design office ItalDesign lends its brushstrokes to various automotive brands around the world. In the 90s, the Koreans wanted to set out to conquer the world and naturally appealed to the person who gave life to the attraction of the beautiful Italian cars of the moment, namely Alpha Romeo and Maserati among others.

Thus, at that time the ambitions of the Korean manufacturer Daewoo were ambitious and he intended to make his place in Europe in the same way as Hyundai or Kia and therefore called on the master designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, founder of the ItalDesign style office in 1968, after having worked at Bertone and Ghia. Its design team aimed to create a car that would appeal to the world despite the unglamorous image of Koreans. A search for identity hitherto absent at Daewoo.

Starting from scratch, the designers were inspired by sports cars from the 1960s to give life to a 2+2 coupé concept called Bucrane.

The design of the Daewoo Bucrane was anything but conventional with rounded, flowing lines.

The door opening system is the originality of this car: it mixes butterfly doors and traditional opening. The glazed parts are removable to transform the coupé into a targa with a longitudinal pillar, such as the Pontiac Firebird, for example. To power it all, a beautiful 240hp 3.2 V6 was planned.

For the interior, ItalDesign tries to conceal its origins under the garish green color. Because it incorporates many elements also from the Honda Legend.

The Bucrane was unveiled in the UK and South Korea, sparking public admiration for the car's Daewoo emblem. However, this was only a design exercise, a publicity effect that never went into production, as Daewoo continued to focus on cheap and unattractive cars, until the crisis of the brand requires it to be sold to General Motors and there was no question for GM of adding a sports coupe to its range in a group already manufacturing the Corvette or the Camaro.

The design of the Bucrane will not be found at Daewoo. The Leganza is indeed rather inspired by the Kensington concept.

However the Bucrane found a reincarnation in the 1998 Maserati 3200GT. 3.2 liter V8 and 365 hp.