Bertone

CARROZZERIA BERTONE, the creation center of the BERTONE GROUP, is optimised to create market vehicles by its special running versatility. Here, futuristic designs become fact; things to be used in everyday life; advanced, topquality automobiles.

Carrozzeria Bertone can the process and merchandise engineering for each of its own goods and handles the whole production cycle.

The amount of automation is established by the sort of goods and quantity.

A careful balance between manual and robotised businesses allows the plant to reach levels of aesthetic refinement that would be unimaginable in a mass-production scenario. The current waterbased paint store, organisation of finishing and assemblage lines, dynamic and static testing and closing control processes, ensure that endproducts fulfill exceptionally high requirements. Materials are acquired using a primary sourcing materials management program along with the procedure itself is incorporated with that adopted by the customer business.

He began with three employees.

At the start of the twentieth century automobiles were a rarity in Torino. The traffic in the roads was practically all carriages, along with the ones constructed by Bertone stood out instantly for their sturdiness, attentive craftsmanship and good quality. The experts shortly came to determine the sound of the Bertone going by in the cobbled streets.

In 1914 Giuseppe, the 2nd son within the Bertone family, was created. Everybody took to calling Nuccio to him, the nickname that has been to be synonymous with Italian design around the planet, and stay with him for the remainder of his own life.

The ending of the war, however, signalled a turning point for Bertone: the firm expanded and concentrated its attentions to the motorcar.

A year after the first important work arrived: the building of the Torpedo on an SPA 23S base, instantly followed by means of a Fiat 501 Sport Siluro Corsa, the first in a long-line of high-performing sports cars which may come to signify the Bertone name within the past few years ahead.

The 20s

Through the Twenties Bertone formed partnerships with practically each of the makers of the day. Torino came to signify the center of the automobile industry and Giovanni Bertone began doing body work on Chiribiri, Quick, Aurea, SCAT and Diatto chassis. The most significant partnerships, however, were those who have the two largest Turin makers: Lancia and Fiat.

Vincenzo Lancia realised straight away that Giovanni Bertone was a talented craftsman with an excellent future before him. Affectionately nicknaming him 'Bertunot', he commissioned Bertone to produce entire car bodies, most importantly for the limited sequence the businesses of the day weren't always equipped to make. This is Bertone's first chance to execute limited creation of particular cars on conventional mechanical bases, and signalled the start of the great job.

Even though these were excellent years for Bertone himself, they were also essential years from the point of view: auto body shapes were slowly evolving, losing the angular shapes of prior versions, with the wings getting to be joined together.

Giovanni Bertone made saloon and torpedo bodies for Lancia and Fiat, and also for Diatto, Itala and SPA. Not to mention he also done commissions for individual customers ready for exclusivity. Along with the sports versions such as the 1928 Ansaldo 6BS, Giovanni Bertone also created luxurious vehicles such as the Itala 51S along with the Fiat 505 limo, both in 1924, along with the Lancia Lambda VIII Series in 1928.

The 30s

Despite the truth that the great depression of 1929 had brought many Turin carmakers to their own knees, Giovanni Bertone's astute direction meant that his business could carry on creating automobiles with outstanding charm. In 1932, for instance, he designed the imposingly refined Lancia Artena. However the main information for the Carrozzeria came in the subsequent year, 1933, when young Nuccio, then aged 19, formally began working in his own dad's business.

In the meantime Bertone began focusing on commercial vehicles also, so when the company grew, new premises were required. The firm moved to 225 Corso Peschiera. There were now 50 individuals to the employees.

The Ardita signalled the beginning of a recent sort of fashion, that was destined to lose to the end-of the decade, with Fiat and Lancia models that have been astounding because of their day.

With his refined creations and daring innovations, Bertone was starting to create a name for himself with critics and motoring enthusiasts alike

The 40s

In the outbreak of WWII, the auto marketplace experienced a surprising, radical decline.

But times were tough along with the deficiency of work was exacerbated by the dearth of labour and raw materials, which meant it was challenging to fulfill orders from the military. But even with each of the issues, production didn't end within the Corso Peschiera factory, together with the lavish Lancia Aprilias and the initial, exceptionally refined long-chassis Fiat 2800 cabriolet, the sole one of its own type, assembled on commission for race driver and motoring journalist Giovanni Lurani Cernuschi.

Following the war, because the long gradual process of reconstruction started in Europe, the huge industrial companies slowly upped production amounts, along with the bodyworks got back to work. During these challenging years Nuccio Bertone created cars such as the racing along with the Lancia Aprilia Cabriolet Fiat 1100 Stanguellini, cars which were precursors to a number of the style developments of the next decade.

At the conclusion of the 40s, Nuccio Bertone turned to racing, in the wheel of the number of unusual automobiles, including a Fiat 500 barchetta he assembled himself. At the conclusion of the decade the assembly with Vittorio Stanguellini led to the formation of the coupe using a Fiat 1100 chassis that was to be considered a tremendous success together with the people.

The 50s

The Fifties introduced within the very first orders from overseas, in particular from Bristol and MG in 1952. Nuccio Bertone developed the image for the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint, that was presented in the 1954 Turin Motor Show this year. A creation of 1000 was initially intended, however in the end almost 40, 000 automobiles were created between 1965 and 1954.

Investigation into aerodynamics culminated within the generation of the Abarth 750 Record in 1956, assembled on the Fiat 600 chassis and analyzed to the high speed course at Monza. This Abarth establish a remarkable ten world-records, including performing 4,000 km with a mean of 156.36 km/h and covering 10,125.26 km in 72 hrs.

Meanwhile, in 1957 the firm expanded to take in the generation of the NSU Sport Prinz. The manufacturing plant in Corso Peschiera started to feel somewhat small, and work began on a fresh manufacturing plant in Grugliasco on the outskirts of Turin. The brand new premises became operative in 1959, with a work force of 550.

The 60s

The Sixties were time of the Italian-design GT.

The IsoRivolta GT 340 and 300 and the Iso Grifo were also developed within this interval. Nuccio Bertone also developed an image cabriolet of a racing variant known plus the latter as the A3C.

In exactly the same year Carrozzeria Bertone experienced a leading turningpoint, together with the launching of the Fiat 850 Spider. The commercial success of the model led Nuccio Bertone to raise the firm's manufacturing capacity to 120 units daily (between 1965 and 1972 almost 140,000 were made). Using the 850 Spider the firm took a huge step forward concerning production volumes, in the 13,000 bodies created in 1966 to almost 30,000 in 1968, a rise of 40%.

The ending of the Sixties saw the start of the partnership with Ferruccio Lamborghini which was destined to make history within the auto world. The very first automobile to come out of this is the Miura, presented in the 1966 Geneva Motor Show, which re-invented the style theory of the powerful coupe. The Miura was adopted by the Marzal (1967) and also the Espada (1968). In the exact same period two other coupes appeared: the Fiat Dino Coupe along with the Alfa Romeo Montreal, both out in 1967.

Astounding, groundbreaking cars, inventing their particular language for the layout of the future: these were Nuccio Bertone's trademarks.

By 1970 Bertone had a work force of 1500 and the Grugliasco factory covered an area of 267,000 sq.m. The partnership with Lamborghini resulted in the creation of the Urraco along with the Jarama. With the astounding Stratos Zero image, assembled on a Lancia Fulvia 1.6 HF base, Bertone came to signify a fresh level of reference in contemporary art, along with to the international auto layout picture. The Stratos Zero, that was presented in the 1970 Turin Motor Show, went beyond simple questions of design to generate a mix of sculpture, architecture and industrial design.

In 1972, in age 88, Giovanni Bertone passed on.

In exactly the same year, as a sort of tacit homage to the organization's creator, the Maserati Kamshin and the Fiat X1/9 came out. The latter, foreshadowed from the Runabout concept-car, went to have exactly the same runaway commercial success, and was the heir of the 850 Spider.

In exactly the same year, the business started working for Volvo, around the 264 TE. The Volvo 262 C, that was presented at the 1977 Geneva Motor Show, was completely made by Bertone, in the assembly of the body for the fitting of the mechanical parts along with the street trials.

This procedural turning point had a huge hand in transforming the firm, that was now ready to become vehicle maker in its right.

The 80s

In the start of the Eighties the X1 / 9 and the Ritmo Cabrio were created and offered immediately below the Bertone marque, meaning the business was now responsible-not only for creation but also for aftersales aid and the sales network for both versions.

In 1982 Nuccio Bertone turned out another significant design, the Citroen BX. After getting into a jointventure with Volvo in 1985 the firm started production of the 780, an elegant twodoor saloon completely made by Nuccio Bertone, in the proper layout of the design to the total production cycle.

A fresh commercial arrangement drafted with General Motors Europe in 1987 found creation of the Kadett Cabrio handed over to Bertone. The partnership with Opel continued with the very first era of the Astra Cabrio, and up-to the current with the newest variants of the Astra Coupe and Cabriolet.

The 90s

Without abandoning its dedication to investigating the new languages of automobile design, Bertone entered the final decade of the century with its emphasis greatly on technological inventions.

In 1993 the Fiat Punto Cabrio along with the Opel Astra Cabrio went into production, together with the whole production cycle for the two vehicles at the Grugliasco factory: assemblage of the body work, fitting of the mechanical parts, fittings and paintwork. A whole production cycle, finishing with all the last testing procedure, which can be performed according to the criteria and processes of the organizations.

In 1994, Carrozzeria Bertone became the very first maker in Italy to be granted ISO 9001 quality certificate.

Now

Following the passing of Nuccio Bertone, Bertone continues to be considered a successful business, going into the 3rd millennium with the exploration of state-of-theart systems including drive-by-wire. Bertone also creates the scooter for BMW, opening a whole new phase within the background of personal freedom.