Bertone

Along with Pininfarina, Zagato, Touring and Ghia, Bertone was one of the masters of Italian coachbuilding who made their mark in the 1930s and dazzled international car manufacturing during the Thirty Glorious Years. Bertone became famous during this Golden Age of automotive style thanks to the collaboration with three outstanding designers, Giorgetto Giugiano, Franco Scaglione and Marcello Gandini, responsible for designing some of the most beautiful Alfa Romeos and Lamborghinis of their time.

Bertone raised design to the level of a major art form, the cars that passed through his Turin workshops consistently influenced the automotive style of the second half of the 20th century. All the models entrusted to Carrozzeria Bertone by the world's leading manufacturers are now synonymous to bold design, constantly reinvented shapes and impeccable finish. Some of Bertone's creations are recognised as true works of art. Like the Lamborghini Miura, which was exhibited at New York's Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MoMA) in 1966, or the Alfa Romeo Montreal, presented as ‘The Dream Car’ at the Montreal World's Fair the following year.

GIOVANNI, THE FOUNDER

The history of Carrozzeria Bertone, more than a century old, is one of laurels. It all began in November 1912, when Giovanni Bertone (1884 -1972) started a workshop for building and repairing horse-drawn carriages in Turin. From 1921 onwards, he shifted his focus to the fast-growing car industry and moved to a new location at 119 Via Monginevro, still in Turin. The first major orders came from manufacturers such as SPA, Fiat, Itala and Lancia. Vincenzo Lancia soon entrusted Bertone with the assembly of the Lambda self-supporting bodies, followed by the Astura and Augusta. Bertone became a benchmark for Italian bodywork, and despite the crisis, some of its cars made their mark, like the 1934 Fiat 527 Ardita and the 1937 Fiat 1500 cabriolet. Giovanni's son Giuseppe joined the family business in 1934 and made a name for himself with the Fiat 1500 Super Aerodinamica presented at the Milan Motor Show. ‘In 1946, “Nuccio” Bertone was appointed head of the company and focused on giving it a more industrial character, enabling it to take on larger orders from manufacturers.

THE GLORIOUS POST-WAR YEARS

Giuseppe Bertone proved to be a good manager who also surrounded himself with the best designers of the moment, expanding the scope of his collaborations beyond the Italian borders with creations for Aston Martin, Bentley, Dodge and Jaguar. At the same time, Arnolt, the American importer of the British brand MG, commissioned him to produce a small series of coupés. A major step was taken when Alfa Romeo awarded him the contract for the series production of the Giulietta Sprint in 1954. The number of collaborations grew steadily: the NSU Sport Prinz coupé in 1958, the Alfa Romeo 2000 Sprint coupé in 1960, the BMW 3200 CS coupé in 1961, and the Simca 1000 coupé in 1962.

At the same time, Bertone produced a number of more confidential projects for Iso Rivolta and Bizzarrini, while the American giants Chevrolet and Ford asked him to design special bodies for the Corvair and Mustang. At the end of the 1960s, with the arrival of stylist Gandini, Bertone was at the height of its powers, developing legendary models such as the Lamborghini Miura. This trend continued in the following decade, culminating in the Lancia Stratos.. In addition to prestigious sports cars, Bertone diversified into popular models such as the Volkswagen Polo, the Innocenti Mini and the Alfa Romeo Alfetta.

The company also collaborated with most manufacturers of cars, two-wheelers and heavy goods vehicles, giving its characteristic personal touch to hundreds of projects. But the number of orders for prototypes was decreasing, Most manufacturers now had their own in-house design departments. Debts mounted, and after selling its factories to Fiat in 2009, the company went into bankruptcy on 4 June 2014. Finally, the remaining Bertone Design business was acquired by the AKKA technologies group in 2016, and in December 2022, to mark Bertone's 110th anniversary, a top-of-the-range GB110 prototype was presented.