Gruppo Bertone

45°27′47″N 9°10′21″E / 45.4631558°N 9.172412°E / 45.4631558; 9.172412

Gruppo Bertone, commonly known as Bertone, was an Italian industrial design company which specialized in car styling, coachbuilding and manufacturing. It was also a car manufacturing company.

The company was based in Grugliasco, northern Italy. Gruppo Bertone was founded as Carrozzeria Bertone in 1912 by Giovanni Bertone. Designer Nuccio Bertone took charge of the company after World War II and the company was divided into two units: Carrozzeria for manufacturing and Stile Bertone for styling. Until its bankruptcy in 2014, the company was headed by the widow of Nuccio Bertone, Lilli Bertone. At the time of bankruptcy, it had around 100 direct employees. In 2014, most employees lost their jobs and were not absorbed by following acquisitions. Cars from the company museum went to other museums, like Automotoclub Storico Italiano and Volandia.

After its bankruptcy, the Bertone name was acquired by an architect and retained by some of its former employees, who continued as a Milan-based small external design office, Bertone Design, more focused on industrial design and architecture. Bertone Design was sold to the group AKKA Technologies in the second quarter of 2016, which already had automotive design activities through Mercedes-Benz Technologies. The AKKA Technologies group subsequently sold the Bertone brand in 2020 to Mauro and Jean-Franck Ricci, the new owners. In 2022, Mauro and Jean-Franck Ricci revived the Bertone brand. The first in a series of limited edition vehicles, the GB110, was presented in December 2022, then unveiled in June 2024.

Giovanni Bertone started a carriage manufacturing business in Turin, Italy, at the age of 28. Along with three workers, he built horse-drawn vehicles. In 1914, Bertone's second son, Giuseppe, nicknamed "Nuccio", was born. The outbreak of the First World War forced Giovanni Bertone to close his company. In 1920, a new plant was opened near the Monginevro 119 in Turin. Twenty people were on the payroll. One year later, a contract on a torpedo-styled body based on the SPA 23S chassis was signed by the company. Then, the FIAT "501 Sport Siluro Corsa" was designed.

During the 1920s, Giovanni Bertone began doing bodywork on the Fast, Chiribiri, Aurea, SCAT, and Diatto chassis. Vincenzo Lancia nicknamed him "Bertunot"; he commissioned Bertone to create cars for the "limited series". Giovanni Bertone produced torpedo and saloon bodies for FIAT and Lancia and for Itala, Diatto, and SPA. Alongside sports models like the 1928 Ansaldo 6BS, Giovanni Bertone also designed cars like the Fiat 505 limousine and the Itala 51S, both in 1924. He later designed the Lancia Lambda VIII Series in 1928. In 1932, Giovanni designed the Lancia Artena, which was produced until 1936. In 1933, Nuccio Bertone officially began working in his father's company. The company moved to Corso Peschiera 225. Gruppo Bertone now had fifty members of staff. In 1934, Bertone created the Fiat 527S Ardita 2500.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Bertone reacted to the crisis by turning to manufacturing military vehicles. The company created vehicles such as the Bertone ambulance on a Lancia Artena base. The chassis Fiat 2800 cabriolet was manufactured; it was built on commission for race driver and motoring journalist Giovanni Lurani Cernuschi. Nuccio Bertone also created cars like the Lancia Aprilia Cabriolet, the Fiat 1100 Stanguellini racing car, and the Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica (BAT) concept cars.

In 1956, they produced the Abarth 750 Record; it was built on a Fiat 600 chassis and tested on the high-speed track at Monza. Abarth 750 Record sets ten world records, including doing 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi) at an average of 156.36 km/h and covering 10,125.26 km in 72 hours. In 1957, the company expanded to start the production of the NSU Sport Prinz. Construction work began in Grugliasco for a new plant that became operative in 1959 with a workforce of 550. At the end of the 1950s, Bertone created the Giulietta Sprint Speciale, the Aston Martin DB2/4, and the Maserati 3500 GT.