Auto Design

The Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa d’Este this years has been as good as the weather. That is to say that half of it was very good, with peaks of excellence, and the remaining half was bad, raining and boring, with touches of ugliness.

 By the end of the elegant week-end on the Lake of Como, one would say it was not one the best edition ever but still offered enough interesting cars to look at, people to greet and talk to, and subjects to discuss.

As such it was one not to be missed. Those who did not attend it missed the extremely rare chance of hearing the sibilo and smelling the pollution of its turbine engine, not to mention seeing this extraordinary visualisation of the dreams about the cars of the future they were dreaming in the fifties and sixties.

  Read the rest of this entry »

 Eventually, the big day for Jason Castiota with Stile Bertone came yesterday. Its Stile Bertone Corvette ZR1 Mantide was presented to a small number of friends, colleagues, suppliers and friends, at the superlative Fiat Group Automobiles proving ground in Balocco just a couple of hours after the latest details were fixed in Caprie. Faithful to the coachbuilder tradition the one-off came late to the meeting, as if that had been orchestrated to further tease those eager to see it and get a first hand impression. Well, my first impression is that the Mantide look fine in pictures and a lot better in reality. Some fussy detail in the back are much less obvious, the roof profile looks very dynamic and express a clear message of high speed, the design is structured and occasionally complex but the main surfaces are perfectly mastered. It is at the front that Castriota’s team has left room for improvement. Obviously organising in a harmonius composition the never-ending surface of the front bonnet is not easy, especially when you want to make a strong impression. The many facets of the front seem to be inspired to a diamond but the outcome is not so brillant. In action, at very reasonable speeds (no problem was the imperative), the silhouette look very exciting and by the end of the day I might end up liking this design better than that of the Pininfarina P4/5 Ferrari Enzo. According to Jason Castriota, the Mantide might be sold to a Chinese enthusiast. The price is now at 1.5 million Euros, but those who are ready to pay some 650,000 euros for one the five units (one per continent?) might get one to their own specifications. Bertone  would love to build if as many orders are placed after the car is presented, tomorrow, at the Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa d’Este.   

Interiors, details, people and more in the photo gallery:  

Mrs. Lilli Bertone is waiting for the slow coming developments of all the procedures that will eventually put the word “end” onto the sad Bertone saga, which see herself and her two daughters arguing on the destiny of the family heritage. In the meantime she is not on idle. She has not time to wate and has recently made a pro-active move by establishing a new company, in association with two well established design and engineering companies: TE.DI and MED. To make clear at the outset about who is in control Lilli Bertone (who has the controlling stake majority) has called the new company BERTONE CENTO.

The name says it all: Cento is Italian for One Hundred and it is precisely the 100^th anniversary of BERTONE that she wants to celebrate and she is focusing on, as point of arrival as well as for the point-in-time for a new departure. Mrs. Bertone is not a teen-ager but she seems to have the enthusiasm, the energy and the determination of a tiger at its best. She has also secured to her new company the talent and experience of Michael “Mike” Robinson, the renowned American-born designer that has made a brilliant career at Fiat and Lancia before going free-lance.

The tall Californian designer has lived in Turin for the past 30 years and has previously held the role of “Director of the Centro Stile Lancia” in the 90s, where he created the concept cars “Dialogos” and “Nea” as well as the Lancia Lybra, Phedra, Thesis, and the latest Ypsilon”. Later, as Director of the Centro Stile Fiat (until 2005) he directed the design development of the Fiat Ducato light commercial vehicle, and the interior of the Fiat Grande Punto.

Mike Robinson will act as “Brand & Design Director”.

Mrs. Bertone has also selected Architect Franco Carretto as head of the Train Design Division of Bertone Cento. The world-renowned train designer was previously the director of the Train Design at Giugiaro Design where he designed trend-setting mass transport vehicles for Chinese, Finnish, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish railways companies, in addition to the Light Underground Train for the Copenhagen Railways.

In announcing her new company, Mrs. Bertone stated: “We are confident that this combined team of creative and technical excellence, including Robinson’s futuristic vision and his great ability to scout talent and motivate teams, Carretto’s long history of success designing train exteriors and interiors, both supported by an experienced team of engineers and industrialists, in perfect harmony with my relentless determination, will empower BERTONE CENTO to return as a one of the world’s driving forces in transportation design and engineering”.

Bertone Cento is an independent company and has no corporate relationship with Stile Bertone, Carrozzeria Bertone, Bertone Glass or the holding Bertone S.p.A. According to a statement issued by the new company, BERTONE CENTO is committed “to bring Bertone design and engineering back into the heart of the worlds’ most important automobile manufacturers, and, on the threshold of a hundred year history reawaken the pride of Italian style and ingenuity”.

Eventually, the day to show what Jason Castriota can deliver when left on his own (and his team) and free to run the show, with all the freedom and confidence that Bertone has traditionally assured to his designers. Nuccio Bertone designed cars with his imagination and confidence in his team. He created fanous designers and I am sure he would have given a chance to Jason. Read the rest of this entry »

Lilli Bertone is not giving up her ambitions to pay homage to Nuccio Bertone and to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of Bertone in 2012 as properly as the Bertone heritage and brand deserves. As the multiple legal initiatives and procedures are either being resolved or on due course for the liquidation of Carrozzeria Bertone Spa and its affiliates, Mrs. Lilli Bertone has outlined a more realistic and pragmatic strategy for the years to come.

Rather than giving up, she is doubling the tables onto which she is going to play in the next years by establishing a new company called BERTONE CENTO. Details on this new business are provided in the following report.

On one side, Mrs. Bertone has reportedly given up her initial commitment to rescue the Carrozzeria Bertone contract manufacturing business or produce cars of its own (banking on a reportedly revolutionary air-engine, among other plans). The recent decline of the car business world-wide has made clear that these are not the times to invest into small-volume manufacturing. This also means that it will up to other investors (either large car manufacturers or real-estate investors) to take over the Carrozzeria Bertone plant and equipment (including a state of the art painting shop) and either launch production of new cars or sell the equipment and turn the factory into a major real estate business. Perhaps both: first launch production of new vehicles, as Mr. Maurizio Reviglio is proposing, and later on convert the area in a rich real-estate development. Mr. Reviglio is still watching the developments and willing to confirm his initial agreement and commitments with Carrozzeria Bertone, with a business plan that has become more consistent in the meantime. Reviglio’s companies, Keplero and Comecar, are developing a range of electric light commercial vehicles that might be ready for sale sometime next year. Mr. Reviglio said his car business plan is going ahead independently of the Carrozzeria Bertone acquisition. “Whether or not we acquire Carrozzeria Bertone we will have no problem to produce our new vehicles here in the Turin area, where we have many shops to acquire or work with”, told us Reviglio.

Reviglio, who has significant investments in real-estate is well aware of the worth of Carrozzeria Bertone facilities and it is legitimate to assume that he is also thinking of the opportunities to be taken in five years or so. The real-estate future is indeed the most likely development for the 310,000 sq.m. area covered by the Carrozzeria Bertone factory. The assets of Bertone Spa and its associated companies are likely to be sold on auction possibly next month, in Torino, as soon as the commissioners are ready to moved ahead (they seems to be the only ones who are not in a hurry).

On the other side Mrs. Bertone is waiting to re-gain control of Stile Bertone, the design arm of the Bertone family which in the past two years has been administered by a management appointed by the court, while Mr. Bertone widow and his two heirs, Barbara and Marie-Jeanne Bertone, were resolving and intricate dispute about who actually had the controlling stake of the independent company dedicated to car design, modelling and prototyping. A recent decision of the court has reportedly ruled in favour of Mrs. Bertone and – according to well placed sources – Barbara Bertone has agreed to sell her stake into Stile Bertone to her mother. These two moves grant a major controlling stake in Stile Bertone and now it is only a matter of time and procedure for Mrs. Bertone to take undisputed control of the company she is not involved with, at this time.

In the meantime Mrs. Bertone has signed a contract also with Michael Robinson, for her all-new company called BERTONE CENTO. The new company has just been established in partnership with a solid group of design and engineering companies active in “transportation design” (everything but cars and trucks) and Michael Robinson is running it as Design and Brand Manager. (more in following report).

Here eventually an image that reflects a bit of the latest Supercar designed by Jason Castriota for Stile Bertone. The ultimate fuoriserie from the famous Italian coachbuilder is called Mantide and will make its first public appearance at the famous “Balocco” Fiat Group Automobile’ proving ground. I think the car is going to look gorgeous, its sound will be intimidating and the speed really high, if the goads of cutting 250 pounds (some 115 kg) off the original weight and the low aerodynamics Cx have actually been achieved.

Having reached a certain age I recently suspected I am getting old, without realising it or, even worst, with no intimate will to concede it. Now I know I am old.

This morning I received from Bradley R. Farell an e-mail message saying “Hi, Jason wanted me to send you a exclusive photo. Photo credit to: www.pdj-photo.com“. The photo is this one that I am glad to offer you, as a unique exclusive preview, teaser, or what else you like to call it, of the Project M.

Coming from New York, this must clearly be the latest and most advanced “communication technique” and if you do not understand why this gentleman Farrell is approaching me in such a sharp and to-the-point style even though I have not had the privilege of having been introduced to him, it must certainly be because I am getting old, out of touch and far from the new trend.

I hope that you, my readers, will concede me that at least I am making an effort to reduce the lag and remain in touch with the modern reality and the futuristic trends. Whereas most of my colleague journalist would consider the “exclusive” image an April’s Fool joke sent 12 days to late and forget about it in an instant, I choose to offer you every bit of information you may like to see.

Just do me a favour, if you will: tell me that I was right in bringing this to you, rather than just ignore it, as my old-style school of journalism and communication had suggested as an instinctive reaction.

P.S. – Just between you and me: I would have much preferred to bring to you a colour rendering in the old times style.

At this time it is interesting to take a good look to the design and the making of the SVS Codatronca by Ercole and Paolo Spada. This spectacular supercar – built on the chassis – and with the powertrain – of one of the most powerful Chevrolet Corvette might well serve as a benchmark for the evalutation of the Supercar soon to be unveiled in mock-up form at the Shanghai Motor Show and as a running prototype at the Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa D’Este, later this month.

The two cars share a lot in addition to their mission and ambitions: attract car collectors with a passion for high performance speed and clear cut, very distinctive design.

The SVS Codatronca TS comes with a Chevrolet Corvette ZR 1 V8 engine tuned up to deliver 630 HP at 7000 rpm and 668 Nm of torque at 4800 rpm. This is said to be good enough for acceleration time of just 3.4 second from 0 to 100 kph and a top speed of 340 kph in 6^th gear, at 7000 rpm.

Unlike the Stile Bertone supercar, which aims at setting a new record at the Nuerburgring, the SVS Codatronca has been designed and tuned to enhance “the pleasure of driving instead of speed record, in the perfect style of the gentleman driver.”

The other remarkable difference between the two is that whereas Stile Bertone and Jason Castriota made extensive use of carbon fibre for their bodywork, the Spada (Father & Son) elected the traditional aluminium body panels technique for the construction of their Codatronca. Here, a review of the making of the SVS Codatronca TS and few images of the actual car.

Click on image for complete photo gallery:    

Designed at Bertone by Marcello Gandini, this concept car was first unveiled before the public at the Geneva Motor Show 40 years ago. Combining beauty with excitement – that phrase might well sum up the idea behind this concept: an open car that could be turned into a coupé. And that also explains its name, a contraction of Spider and Coupe. The front end was designed in textbook Bertone style while accommodating the hallmark BMW kidney grille. The car’s form also harked back to the timeless beauty of Albrecht Goertz’ BMW 507. The wheelbase of a BMW 2500 was cut and shortened by as much as 350 mm. from 269 cm to 234 cm in length for the job, and the engine came from the BMW 2800.

The BMW 2800 Spicup was discovered in The Netherlands last year and has been fully restored so that 40 years after its world premiere, Roland d’Ieteren will bring the car to the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2009 to appear before the public for the first time after its restoration.

More pictures to be posted soon. Please come back.

BMW and the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este will be celebrating their 80^th anniversary this year with a very special edition that will also mark the ten anniversary of the BMW sponsorship and involvement of the famous event on the banks of Lake Como. Although BMW was established in 1916 (as a constructor of aircraft engines) the company built its first passenger car in 1929 after becoming famous for its motorcycles. Read the rest of this entry »