Prolific Italian car designer Marcello Gandini, credited with creating the first-ever supercar, has passed away at age 85.
Gandini designed a series of legendary sports cars including the Lancia Stratos, Ferrari GT4 and Lamborghini Countach, during his 14-year tenure at car design company Bertone.
Their distinctive wedge shape would become Gandini's signature and influence many of the experimental car designs of the 1970s and 80s.
Marcello Gandini (above) is known for cars including the Lancia Stratos (top)
His work for Lamborghini is most well-known, with his design for the 1966 Miura widely credited with inventing the sportscar segment.
Gandini was also responsible for creating some of the most seminal mass-market vehicles of the past 50 years, including the Citroën BX, Renault 5 Turbo and VW Polo. The car designer never stopped working and passed away on Wednesday in Turin ? Italy's automotive capital and Gandini's birthplace.
Gandini (right) worked with the company of Nuccio Bertone (left) for 14 years
Many of Italy's most prominent car companies shared tributes to Gandini, with Lamborghini honouring the "indelible mark" he left on both car design and Ferrari design director Flavio Manzoni mourning the loss of a "great master".
"Gandini was not just a designer," Bertone wrote on Instagram. "He was a visionary, whose skill and creativity redefined the aesthetic standards of sports and luxury cars, influencing generations of designers ...