Gruppo Bertone

At the end of the First World War, Bertone's business restarted and expanded its activities, and began focusing on the automotive sector. In 1920, a new plant was opened near the Monginevro 119 in Turin. Twenty people were on the payroll. One year later, the first important contract was signed to the company. This was a torpedo styled body based on the SPA 23S chassis. Then, the FIAT "501 Sport Siluro Corsa," the first of a family of models that would characterize the brand in the years to come, was designed. With that, the high-performance sport car was born.

During the 1920s, Turin was represented as one of the worldwide centers of excellence of the car industry. Bertone was sitting on the hub of it and formed partnerships with almost all the manufacturers of the day. Giovanni Bertone began doing bodywork on the Fast, Chiribiri, Aurea, SCAT and Diatto chassis. The most important and long-lasting relationships were those with the two biggest Turin manufacturers: FIAT and Lancia.

Vincenzo Lancia realised straight away that Giovanni Bertone was an outstanding skilled craftsman with a great future ahead of him. Affectionately nicknaming him "Bertunot", he commissioned Bertone to create complete car bodies, above all for the limited series that the companies of the day were not always equipped to manufacture. This was Bertone's first opportunity to carry out limited production of special cars on standard mechanical bases, and was the beginning of a great industrial experience.

These are very exciting years for Bertone himself, and also for the evolution of industrial style and design. The car body shapes are slowly but continuously changing, angular shapes begin to fade, wings start to be joined together. Giovanni Bertone produced torpedo and saloon bodies for FIAT and Lancia, and also for Itala, Diatto and SPA. He also worked on commissions for private customers eager for exclusivity. Alongside sports models like the 1928 Ansaldo 6BS, Giovanni Bertone also designed luxury cars like the Fiat 505 limousine and the Itala 51S, both in 1924. He later designed the Lancia Lambda VIII Series in 1928.

Despite the fact that the depression of 1929 had brought many Turin carmakers to their knees, Giovanni Bertone's shrewd management allowed the company to carry on creating cars with great appeal. In 1932, Giovanni designed the imposingly elegant Lancia Artena, which was produced until 1936. In 1933; the following year, a corner stone event for the Carrozzeria Bertone occurred. This was that Nuccio Bertone, who was nineteen at the time, officially began working in his father's company. In the same period, Bertone began working on commercial vehicles, and as the business grew, new premises were needed. The company moved to Corso Peschiera 225. Gruppo Bertone now had fifty members of staff.

In 1934, Bertone created the Fiat 527S Ardita 2500, a turning point in car design, with some incredible new details such as the stunning front headlights with fairing along the bonnet. With the Ardita a new kind of style was created, destined to take off towards the end of the decade, with FIAT and Lancia models astounding for their day. Examples were the 'six window' FIAT 1500 Aerodinamica, the opulent Lancia Aprilia Cabriolet and the novel Fiat 1500 Torpedo, with structural features that had never been seen before, such as the fold-away hood which stowed away entirely inside the car. With Giovanni's bold innovations and elegant creations, he was highly appreciated by car experts and fans.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, the car market experienced a sudden, drastic downturn. Almost all the bodywork manufacturers, including Bertone, reacted to the crisis by turning to military vehicles of various kinds. The company created vehicles such as the Bertone ambulance on a Lancia Artena base. It was a hard time. The demand was scarce. Raw materials and labour was lacking. Military orders where difficult to fulfill. But production did not stop in the Corso Peschiera plant, some luxurious Lancia Aprilia are manufactured as well as the extremely elegant long chassis Fiat 2800 cabriolet, the only one of its kind, built on commission for race driver and motoring journalist Giovanni Lurani Cernuschi.

After the war, as the long slow process of reconstruction began in Europe, the big industrial companies gradually scaled up their production levels, and the bodyworks got back to work. During these difficult years, Nuccio Bertone created cars like the Lancia Aprilia Cabriolet and the Fiat 1100 Stanguellini racing car, which were precursors to some of the design trends in the following decade.

At the end of the 1940s, Nuccio Bertone turned to racing, at the wheel of a number of different cars, including a Fiat 500 Barchetta, which Nuccio built for himself. At the end of the decade, the meeting with Vittorio Stanguellini led to the creation of a coupé with a Fiat 1100 chassis which got a high public appreciation..

The 1950s brought in the first orders from countries other than Italy, in particular from MG and Bristol Cars Limited in 1952. The following year, Franco Scaglione designed the prototype for the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint, which was presented at the 1954 Turin Motor Show. A production of 1000 was originally planned, but in the end nearly 40,000 vehicles were made between 1954 and 1965. The car ceased production in 1965.

The relationship between Bertone and Alfa Romeo reached its creative peak with the Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica (BAT) concept cars which pushed back the boundaries of car design and aerodynamics: the BAT 5 in 1953, the BAT 7 in 1954 and the BAT 9 of 1955. Research into aerodynamics culminated in the production of the Abarth 750 Record in 1956, built on a Fiat 600 chassis and tested on the high-speed track at Monza. This Abarth set an impressive ten world records, including doing 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi) at an average of 156.36 km/h and covering 10,125.26 km in 72 hours.

In 1957, the company expanded to start the production of the NSU Sport Prinz. The factory in Corso Peschiera could not cope with the forecasted production volumes. Construction work began in Grugliasco on the outskirts of Turin, for a new plant which became operative in 1959, with a workforce of 550. At the end of the 1950s, Bertone came up with some sports Berlinetta which were to make history, such as the Giulietta Sprint Speciale, the Aston Martin DB2/4 and the Maserati 3500 GT.

The 1960s were the years of the Italian-style GT. Giorgetto Giugiaro came up with five variations on the theme which would always be dear to his heart, in the shape of five extremely racy GT models: the Alfa Romeo 2600 Sprint, in coupé and cabriolet versions, two Ferrari 250 GTs, one named 'Wax' after the commissioning client, and the other for his personal use, the Aston Martin DB4 GT 'Jet' and the Maserati 5000 GT. At the same time, two new industrial partnerships were getting under way, with the work on the Simca 1000 Coupé and the BMW 3200 CS limited series, as was the important, but unfortunate ASA 1000 GT, better known as the "Ferrarina", or "little Ferrari" (as the project originated with Enzo Ferrari), which, despite the high expectations of the public, was a commercial failure upon its release.[1]

The Iso Rivolta GT 300, the Iso Rivolta GT 340 and the Iso Grifo were also created in the 1960s. Giorgetto Giugiaro designed a prototype cabriolet of the latter and a racing version known as the A3C. The Grifo years were also the years of the Chevrolet Testudo, driven personally by Nuccio Bertone to the Geneva Motor Show in 1963. The following year saw the Alfa Romeo Canguro, followed in 1965 by the Alfa Romeo Giulia GT, the rightful heir of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint.

In 1965, Carrozzeria Bertone experienced a major turning-point, with the launch of the Fiat 850 Spider. The commercial success of this model led Nuccio Bertone to increase the company's production capacity to 120 units per day (between 1965 and 1972 nearly 140,000 were produced, the great majority of which were sold in the United States). With the Fiat 850, the company took a giant leap forward in terms of production volumes, from the 13,000 bodies produced in 1966 to nearly 30,000 in 1968, an increase of 40 percent.

The end of the 1960s saw the beginning of the partnership with Ferruccio Lamborghini that was destined to make history in the car world. The first vehicle to come out of this was the Lamborghini Miura, which presented at the 1966 Geneva Motor Show, which reinvented the high performance coupé design concept. The Miura was followed by the Marzal in 1967 and the Espada in 1968. In the same period, two other coupés appeared: the Alfa Romeo Montreal and the Fiat Dino Coupé, both out in 1967. Astounding, ground-breaking cars, inventing their own language for the design of the future: these were Marcello Gandini's trademarks. At the Paris Motor Show of 1968, Bertone presented the Carabo concept car, based on an Alfa 33 chassis.

By 1970, Bertone had a workforce of 1,500 staff, and the Grugliasco factory covered an area of 267,000 square metres (2,870,000 sq ft). The partnership with Lamborghini led to the development of the Lamborghini Espada, by 1973 known as the world's fastest four-seater. The design was inspired by an earlier concept, the Jaguar Pirana. After his initial success with the Espada he went on to design the Lamborghini Jarama and the Lamborghini Urraco. With the Stratos Zero prototype, which built on a Lancia Fulvia 1.6 HF base, Bertone came to represent a new point of reference in modern art, as well as on the international car design scene. The Stratos Zero, which was presented at the 1970 Turin Motor Show, evoked a timeless blend of architecture, sculpture and industrial design. The following year, with some of the Zero's styling cues as a starting point, Bertone created the Lancia Stratos Stradale, a compact coupé destined mainly for the racing circuit, and which went on to win numerous victories in world rally championships.

In 1972, at the age of 88, Giovanni Bertone died. In that year, as a tacit tribute to the company's founder, the Maserati Khamsin and the Fiat X1/9 were released. The latter, foreshadowed by the Autobianchi A112 Runabout concept car, was the heir of the 850 Spider, and went on to enjoy the same runaway commercial success. Based on the Fiat 128 chassis but with a mid-rear-engine layout, the X1/9 was in production from 1972 to 1988, with 160,000 units manufactured.

Meanwhile, Marcello Gandini's prolific drawing board saw a succession of supercars, runabouts and provocative style concepts. These included the 1973 Series 3 version of the Lamborghini Espada, which redesigned the dashboard configuration, the Lamborghini Countach and the Ferrari 308 GT4 of 1973, the Audi 50 and Innocenti Mini 90 of 1974, the Fiat 131 Abarth Rally in 1975, and the prototype Alfa Romeo Navajo in 1976.

In the same year, the company began working for Volvo on the 264 TE. The Volvo 262C, which was presented at the 1977 Geneva Motor Show, was entirely manufactured by Bertone, from the assembly of the basic body to the fitting of the mechanical components and the road trials. This procedural turning point had a big role in transforming the company, which was now set to become a car manufacturer in its own right.

From the start of the 1980s, the Fiat Ritmo Cabrio and the Fiat X1/9 were produced and sold directly under the Bertone brand, meaning that the company was now responsible not only for production but also for the sales network and after-sales assistance for the two models.

In 1982, Marcello Gandini turned out another important design, the Citroën BX. After entering into a joint-venture with Volvo in 1985 the company began production of the Volvo 780, a two-door saloon entirely created by Bertone, from the formal design of the model to the full production cycle.

A new commercial agreement drawn up with General Motors Europe in 1986 saw production of the Kadett Cabrio handed over to Bertone. The new Pontiac Fiero GT body design was also due to this relationship with the stile Bertone department of the company. The partnership with Opel continued with the first generation of the Opel Astra Cabrio, and with the Astra Coupé. The end of the 1980s saw the Citroën XM, and the Freeclimber off-roader with mechanical components by Daihatsu and BMW engines.

Without abandoning its commitment to exploring the new languages of car design, Bertone entered the 1990s with its focus on technological innovations. Capturing the attention of public and experts alike at the 1992 Turin Motor Show was the aggressively futuristic Blitz barchetta, a showcar which featured an electric engine and avant-garde construction solutions. The barchetta had a tubular chassis in special steel integrated with sandwich-structured fiber glass panels, bodywork in composite materials and carbon interiors.

In 1993 the Opel Astra Cabrio and the Fiat Punto Cabrio began production, with the entire production cycle for both cars at the Grugliasco factory; assembly of the bodywork, mechanical components integration, paintwork and fittings. A complete production cycle, ending with the final testing process, which is carried out according to the procedures and standards of the commissioning companies.

In 1994, continuing the company's research into low environmental-impact vehicles, Bertone presented the Zero Emission Record (ZER), a futuristic reinterpretation of the Abarth 750 Record. Expressly conceived and created to yield the highest performance levels in the electric car sector, the ZER (which has a Cx of 0.11) set the world one-hour-long distance record (199.822 km), and broke the 300 km/h barrier, setting the new world speed record for electric cars (with a top speed of 303.977 km/h).

In 1994, Gruppo Bertone became the first manufacturer in Italy to be awarded the ISO 9001 quality certification. Meanwhile, Bertone did not turn his back on a past dedicated to bodywork and continued to design working prototypes; the Karisma in 1994, a four-seater berlinetta on a Porsche base, the Kayak in 1995, a coupé on a Lancia K base, the Slalom 'coupé de chasse' on an Opel Astra Coupe/Cabrio base, and the Fiat Enduro 4x4, a SUV based on a Fiat Brava floorpan.

On 26 February 1997, on the evening of the Geneva Motor Show, Nuccio Bertone died, "one of the greatest coachbuilders of the century, and international Maestro of Italian style" in the words of Fulvio Cinti, motoring journalist and car historian. His widow, Lilli Bertone, took over management of the company.

While in the past, car manufacturers had paid more attention to the engineering of a car than to its design. By the 1990s they had realized the importance of design to their brand's success and were increasingly bringing more of the creative work in house. This even applied to supercar manufacturers, who in the past had been a major client of the Italian design consultancies (carrozzeria). While Chinese and Indian manufacturers provided some work, this too decreased as once they gained confidence and they too established their own in-house design studios. Despite these difficulties, Bertone obtained some specialist manufacturing projects and continued with design consulting.

However, by 2009, the worsening financial situation caused Bertone to sell its Grugliasco plant, along with its manufacturing activities to FIAT.[2] Bertone underwent a major restructuring and became a fully integrated service company in the automotive, transportation, and industrial design sectors. By then, Bertone workforce had dropped to roughly 300, mainly engineers and designers, with a capacity of 300,000 engineering hours per year, which allowed it to manage up to four prototype projects per year, from first style drafts to the effective manufacturing of the prototype.

The financial turmoil however continued, leading it to sell off some of its treasured collection of concept cars in 2011.[2][3][4]

After having ceased trading because of financial difficulties, Bertone on 18 March 2014[3] confirmed that it will be declared bankrupt if a suitable buyer was not found by the end of April.[2]

In May 2013 the license rights of the brand were granted by Bertone Cento to Bertone Design,[5] a company established in Milan, led by architect Aldo Cingolani[6] with the aim of a reviving the brand in various fields, such as architecture, industrial design and fashion. Bertone Design also operates in the railway sector. Its most recent projects are the Frecciarossa 1000[7] Trenitalia and the regional train "Jazz"[8] produced by Alstom; both will go into service in 2015.

Bertone Design claims continuity with the original company.[9]

Lambretta Luna Range

• Lambretta Luna Range: Lui/Vega/Cometa (1968)
• Lambretta GP/DL (1969)

• BMW C1 (2000–2003)
• Fiat Punto Cabrio (1995–1999)
• Mini Cooper GP (2006)
• Volvo 262C (1977–1981)