Bertone Auctions Off Some of its Most Recognizable Concepts to Avoid Insolvency

Here lies Bertone, the famed Italian automotive design house, bankrupt and on almost on the verge of death. The once legendary company was forced to sell its most prized possessions – six concept cars – to appease the bankruptcy commission and also to remain afloat. RM Auctions of London handle the sale at this past weekend’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2011.

So what delectable concepts were the vultures able to get their beaks into? Well, there’s the 1967 Lamborghini Marzal that once graced the Monaco Grand Prix and is often cited as the inspiration for the Espada of the following year.

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The Wonderful Alfa Romeo GT Cabrio that Never Was...

The Alfa Romeo GT was a fairly successful small coupe built between 2003 and 2010. Its clean styling courtesy of the Bertone design house and its sweet handling led to sales of 80,832 units worldwide. But did you know that Bertone also conceived a convertible version of the car? In 2003, the Italian design house and coachbuilder built a one-off, four-seat soft-top version of the GT for Alfa Romeo, in order to convince them it was worth making.

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Jaguar Dismisses Bertone's B99 Sports Sedan Concept

One of the highlights of this year's Geneva Motor Show was the B99 design study for an entry-level Jaguar sedan by Bertone. The concept car was created independently by the Italian design house, without the involvement of Jaguar. Therefore, the B99 does not preview the design of the future X-Type, as confirmed by a top Jaguar executive.

“It is not our concept. We appreciate the fact that Jaguar is interesting enough for people to do a concept around. It's not that we are offended by it, or against it - it is just not for us," Adrian Hallmark, Jaguar's global brand director, told Automotive News at the Geneva Motor Show.

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Video of Bertone's B99 Baby Jaguar Concept for a BMW 3-Series Rival

One of the most talked about prototype models at this year's edition of the Geneva Motor Show is Bertone's concept for an entry-level Jaguar sports sedan called the B99. While the British automaker has turned a new page with the designs of its latest XF and XJ saloons, Bertone proposes a modernized version of the classic Jaguar three-box saloon. For some it works fine, for others it's an unnecessary throwback to old times. Watch the video after the break and tell us what you think in the comments section below.

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Geneva 2011: Bertone B99 asks, "Can't we All Just Forget About the X-Type?"

Bertone and Jaguar have joined forces again, and the result is this lovely little concept called the B99. Celebrating 99 years of existence, Bertone's B99 is meant to showcase what a Jaguar 3-Series could look like (and thankfully there's no silly black C-pillar as found on the XJ). While some may disagree with this design's placement in the lineup, one thing is certain: an X-Type this ain't.

The B99 measures 4.5 meters long, 1.35 m tall, and 1.95 m wide with a 2.8 m wheelbase. As befits all Jaguars, there's a leaper on the hood; this time, though, it uses some snazzy pedestrian safety sensors that can retract it at airbag speeds should an impaling be imminent. Think of it as dab of Rolls with your Jaguar.

There's more retraction action at the trunk end of things, too, with a speed-sensing spoiler in the trunk.

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Bertone’s Baby Jaguar Sports Sedan: Not My Cup of Tea

In all honestly, I really struggle to see how the Bertone B99 fits into Jaguar’s past and current design lineage and line-up. The new generation of Jags – the XF and the XJ – are sleek, risqué and look like nothing else on the market. On the other hand, the B99 could just as easily be badged as a Lincoln, a Rolls-Royce or a Maserati. If you squint at the pictures you’ll see my point. It’s anonymously styled, as if Bertone used a book called, “Luxury Concept Cars 101” as a template. And that grille! It just screams, “Dodge Caliber!” Read more »

Bertone's Baby-Jaguar B99 Concept Looks Surprisingly Good

[Updated with high-res pictures] After the teaser image we showed you earlier today, the first three images of Bertone's design study for a compact Jaguar, hit the web. Dubbed B99 (for the 99th anniversary of Bertone) the eye-catching concept car has a sleek coupe profile, even though it's a four-door sedan. The suicide doors give it a distinctive appearance, but if Jaguar were to build a production model, it's unlikely that they would remain.

While it might look like a long limousine, the Italian design house's B99 concept is just 4.5 meters long. Combine this with the very low height (1.35 meters) and the pretty wide body (1.95 meters) and you have a small sedan looking like a much bigger and more luxurious model, whose profile brings to mind the classic Jaguar XJ.

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Bertone to Debut B99 Jaguar Concept for a BMW 3-Series Rival in Geneva

Whispers of a new design study for a Jaguar model from Bertone have been going around lately, but today, a teaser image surfaced online providing us with our first peek at the car, which is named B99 (Bertone 99) and is set to premiere at next month's Geneva Motor Show.

The B99 is a conceptual proposal for a 'baby' Jaguar model targeting the likes of the BMW 3-Series and Mercedes C-Class saloons. The concept will feature a traditional four-door sedan body with more classic proportions and styling cues than the XJ and XF.

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Bertone's Alfa Romeo Pandion Concept Spreads its Wings in Geneva

Italy's famed but troubled design house Bertone made a comeback at this year's edition of the Geneva Salon with a new sports car concept designed to celebrate Alfa Romeo's 100th anniversary.

Named after a species of raptors, more commonly referred to as the sea hawk, Bertone's Pandion concept is loosely based on the Alfa Romeo 8c Competizone using the same high-revving 450HP 4.7-liter V8 engine.

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Stile Bertone Readying Alfa Romeo Concept Model for Geneva Show

Joining the celebrations for Alfa Romeo's centenary, Stile Bertone will pop the covers off a new concept model at next month's Geneva Salon. The Italian design house, which was recently left independent after the Fiat Group acquired the firm's manufacturing facilities, released a shady teaser sketch of the Alfa Romeo concept that is rumored (but not confirmed) to be based on the 8c Competizione model.

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Fiat Group to Make an Offer to Buy Carozzeria Bertone

The Fiat Group's appetite for acquiring automakers has yet to lose its edge. Today it was confirmed that Fiat S.p.A will make a 'non-binding offer' for Italian automotive design and contract manufacturing firm, Carrozeria Bertone that could be sold as part of a bankruptcy proceeding. It is reported that the deadline to make bids for the Italian coachbuilder is Thursday, July 16 with court administrators planning to have the sale completed by the end of the month.

Other companies interested in buying Bertone are said to include Chinese automaker FAW, an unnamed Spanish consortium and Italian entrepreneurs Gianmario Rossignolo and Domenico Reviglio.

Aside from the Carrozeria Bertone's design and engineering capability for specialty vehicles and concept cars, the firm also has a manufacturing plant in Turin. According to the coachbuilder's official site, the Grugliasco factory covers a total area of 310,000 sq.m. and has a potential output of around 70,000 vehicles per year.

The maker of the Corvette ZR-1 based Mantide concept supercar currently employs 1,140 people, down from 1,450 at the end of 2007.

Via: Autonews (Sub. Req.)

Bertone Could Produce Up to 10 Examples of ZR1-Based Mantide Priced at $2 Million a Piece

Many may find the Bertone Mantide's design controversial, to say the least, but there's no doubt that every rare supercar has its place in the world of automotive collectors. So it comes to no surprise that according to Bertone's chief designer and the man at fault responsible for the Mantide's styling, Jason Castriota, the Italian firm could produce as many as 10 units of the Corvette ZR1-based sportscar.

"The project has an anonymous benefactor, but it is in fact for sale either as a singular example, or with the possibility of building an extremely limited series," Castriota told the NY Times in an e-mail message. "At the moment there is considerable interest around the world as we have been contacted by potential clients in Asia, Europe and America," he added.

Despite its relatively humble underpinnings - humble in the sense that a Corvette ZR1 will set you back a 'mere' $104,920 or about €79,000, the Mantide's price will hover close to a staggering $2,000,000 or around €1,500,000. Like it or not, we have no doubt that there's a handful of people out there who will be more than willing to pay such a high price to own a supercar like the Mantide.

Via: NY Times

VIDEO: Bertone Mantide Presentation at Shanghai Auto Show

We've pretty much summed up our feelings about John Castriota's Corvette ZR1-based Bertone Mantide in our previous post here, so we're not going to get into the design discussion again. Just hit the jump to watch to watch the coupe's presentation from the Shanghai Auto Show earlier this month, and don't forget to lower the volume of your speakers because you're probably going to get as annoyed as we did the music background.

Bertone Mantide Live from Shanghai Auto Show

Nope, as much as some of our readers may disagree with us, these live photos of the Corvette ZR1-based Bertone Mantide still don't do the trick. We continue to believe that the Mantide's appearance and especially the car's front-end styling, looks like it was the work of some haphazard Chinese automaker and not from a famed design house like Bertone. At some point the vehicle's cat-lipped buttocks could grow on us, but don't expect that to happen any time soon. Read more about the Mantide here.

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Pics copyright: UP

Bertone Mantide based on Corvette - Really, it's not a Chinese Concept...

Don't you just love the media's double standards? If its Chinese, it's junk, if its Western European or American it's a masterpiece. Excuse me, but the first thing that came to mind upon seeing Jason Castriota's Corvette ZR1-based Bertone Mantide Concept was 'hey, this thing looks like it came straight out of the design studio of some random and gawkily named Chinese automaker'. Sure it captures your attention as any concept sportscar would do, but this ain't no Italian beauty... Those that disagree with us may -and should- leave their thoughts in the comment section below.

Even though we may not find its design alluring -at least in the classic Italian sense, compared to the Corvette ZR1 donor car, drag has been reduced by 25% to Cd 0.298 while there's also a 30% improvement in down force.

Bertone claims that the Mantide also promises greater performance than the ZR1, due to significant weight savings, achieved through the extensive use of carbon fibre for all body panels, interior trim, seats and even the wheels. The result is that the overall vehicle weight has been reduced by 100 kilos or 220 pounds over the ZR1.

Equipped with the Corvette ZR1's 640Hp supercharged V8, the Mantide sprints from 0 to 62mph (100km/h) in 3.2 seconds and has a top speed of 351km/h (217mph).

The Mantide made its global debut at the Shanghai Auto Show.