Auto Design

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.

1970 Bertone Stratos – Just one of many benchmarks for J. Castriota.

According to absolutely unreliable sources, the bespoke supercar being completed at Stile Bertone facilities in Caprie under the direction of Jason Castriota might be called CAT 1. Speculative sources in Torino like to think this might eventually be the name to be given to the first public work of the Italo-American design for Stile Bertone. The bespoke “fuoriserie” into which Stile Bertone and Castriota have invested some six months of intensive design, engineering, manufacturing and video-taping work will be making its first public appearance at the Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa d’Este, in parallel with the disply of its full scale model at the Shanghai Motor Show. According to some, the name is the acronym of Coupé Aerodinamico Tecnologico 1, to stress the company tradition for futuristic design works. Other sources are ready to bet that the actual meaning of the acronym is Castriota Automobili Torino. It seems to be a joke but….why not.

According to one reader, the tail of Stile Bertone supercar has a strikingresemblance to the Stola 1998 Abarth Monotipo