Just in time for the 110th anniversary
Bertone returns. The Italian design house (and originally a coachbuilder) went bankrupt in 2014, but is being revived this year – 110 years after the original creation of Bertone. The designer reports almost nothing on his site, but it does hint at the arrival of a car with a mid-engine, parts of which can be seen in a video.
At the end of 2013, we wrote that Bertone was in ‘difficult times’. It turned out, because shortly afterwards the Italian design house went bankrupt. Originally, Giovanni Bertone, the founder, was a coachbuilder. He only really made a name for himself when he devoted himself to designing and later also producing cars. Between 1912 and 2014, Bertone sold numerous car designs, including many on behalf of Lamborghini and a few on behalf of Ferrari. However, the design agency also scored highly with the Citroën BX and also signed for the Opel Astra G coupe and convertible, for example.
As car manufacturers realized that the design is just as important as the technology, cars were increasingly designed by the manufacturers themselves rather than by third parties. This trend cost Bertone customers. Until the 1990s they regularly drew cars intended for large-scale production, but that quickly changed in the new millennium. If you take a look at all the models that Bertone unveiled, it is striking that in the last roughly ten years of its existence it has actually only been concepts and one- or few offs built. If not for Aston Martin, for example, then under its own flag.
The last Bertone
The last car that Bertone designed under its own flag was the Bertone Nuccio in 2012. Bertone named it after Giovanni Bertone’s son and the car existed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the design agency. Quite bitter that the car celebrating your 100th birthday turns out to be the last to bear your signature.
However, that is about to change now. Recently, the name Bertone was bought by two Italian brothers who gave the company a second life. As mentioned, little is known about this yet, but the website proudly announces that the Italians are celebrating their 110th anniversary this year and that a car with a mid-engine is coming. As soon as we know more about that, you can read it here. That could be quite soon, because Bertone’s 110th year will soon be over.
The Bertone Nuccio, the last car designed by Bertone to bear its own name.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl