Ercole Spada (26 July 1937 – 3 August 2025) was an Italian automobile designer. His most notable designs were produced in the 1960s, for theZagato design studio house, where Spada was chief stylist. During this period some of the most notablesports cars byAston Martin,Ferrari, andMaserati, as well asAlfa Romeo,Abarth,Fiat andLancia were clothed by Spada's designs.
Spada was born inBusto Arsizio on 26 July 1937. He earned a degree in industrial engineering from Istituto Tecnico Feltrinelli in 1956. Following a military service, he joined Zagato in February 1960.
The first design created by Spada for Zagato was theAston Martin DB4 GT Zagato. One example of Spada's work was theMazda MX-3, which aimed to capture theAlfa Romeo Giulia TZ design, according to its creators.[who?] Shortly before leaving Zagato, Spada designed theAlfa Romeo Junior Z, as well as theLancia Fulvia Sport.
Spada joinedFord in 1970 to become chief designer at the ItalianGhia design house. This led to the creation of theFord GT70, which did not enter production at the last moment.
After leaving Ford and following a short stay atAudi, Spada joinedBMW's design center as chief stylist in 1976. During his stay with BMW, Spada created two major all-new designs withClaus Luthe, the7-series (1986–1994), and theBMW E34 5-series (1988–1996).
In 1983 Spada returned to lead an Italian design house, this timeI.DE.A Institute, where he designed a string ofcompact andluxury cars, forFiat – theTipo andTempra siblings, theLanciaDedra andDelta II, and theKappa. Other projects included theAlfa Romeo 155 and theDaihatsu Move. During his stay in I.DE.A Institute, Spada competed and won over major design contracts from Fiat, putting him in direct competition with his fellow Italian designer,Giorgetto Giugiaro.
Returning to Zagato in 1992, Spada designed theFerrari FZ93, based on a regular512 TR mechanics, as well as other designs.
Spada continued to work as a designer. He joined his son, Paulo Spada, to create Spadaconcept, a new design house aimed at automotive andindustrial design.
Spada died on 3 August 2025, at the age of 88.[1][2]
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