The Aztec is a two-seat sports concept car by Italdesign Giugiaro, the Italian design house founded by Giorgetto Giugiaro and Aldo Mantovani. It was presented at the 1988 Turin motor show to mark the twentieth anniversary of the company, alongside two related concepts, the Aspid and the Asgard, with which it shared a common underlying structure. The Aztec served as the starting point for the trio and was designed entirely in-house, with Giugiaro personally producing the exterior drawings as precise plan views rather than sketches, while leaving the interior detailing to his team under his supervision.
The car used a transverse mid-mounted engine derived from the Audi 200 Turbo Quattro, a 2226 cc five-cylinder turbo unit mounted slightly angled on the right side. Power was raised from the standard 200 hp to 250 hp at 6200 rpm, driving all four wheels through adapted transmission components in a 4x4 layout with a 50/50 front-to-rear torque split, matching Audi Quattro practice. Audi's technical head, Ferdinand Piëch, supported the project and made the drivetrain freely available; Giugiaro had originally considered a pair of parallel V8 engines before settling on the modified Audi five-cylinder as a more feasible solution. Front suspension used double wishbones, while the rear was located by MacPherson struts, and all four wheels had ventilated disc brakes with Pirelli P600 225/60 VR15 tyres. The spare wheel was mounted under the front hood to aid weight distribution.
The barchetta-style open bodywork featured two doors with hinged upper sections incorporating semicircular low windscreens, roll hoops behind the seats, a wedge-shaped underbody, retractable double headlights, and mirrors that doubled as flash signals. Exterior service and control panels replaced an earlier idea for "engine windows," housing an automatic oil top-up system, fluid level displays, tools, a tyre compressor, a wheel-nut removal tool, a fire extinguisher and a 12-volt power outlet. The cockpit featured a sculpted steering wheel, semicircular instrument displays for both driver and passenger, a central touchscreen with eight functions including navigation, traffic and weather information, and a passenger-side monitor with a computer. Two removable plexiglass roof domes allowed use in rain, though no windscreen wipers were fitted. The body was steel with GFK plastic used for bumpers and lower body extensions, and combined boot volume front and rear totalled 296 litres.
The Aztec measured 427 cm in length, 197 cm in width and 117.5 cm in height, with a 260 cm wheelbase, and had a top speed of 250 km/h. Although Italdesign denied any plans to commercialise the Aztec, it was engineered to allow series production, and a contract was later signed with a Japanese company for a limited run of 50 units planned for 1991/1992. Development of the Aztec, Aspid and Asgard trio together consumed around 100,000 working hours and an investment of 5 million francs.
