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Because, why not? Thanks to the American taxpayer, Fiat didn’t have to pay for Chrysler. But China’s First Auto Works (FAW) and others are bidding for Bertone Carozzeria, so Fiat stump up real, actual money, says Automotive News [sub]. For a coach builder (last project: the Opel Astra convertible of 2000-2005) which was just bailed out by the Italian government in 2007. And is only going to auction because of a family feud (via AN [sub]). Now that is what you call adding insult to bailout.
8 Comments on “Fiat Finds Spare Change In Couch, Bids On Bertone...”
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How about a review on the Astra ‘vert? Looks nice.
Seems to me that there might be too many “studios” for the amount of work going around. What has the company be doing since the Astra?
I imagine Jason Castriota alone is worth the cost they’d pay. I’m struggling to come up with any other assets Bertone has…
Nice to see them using U.S. tax dollars wisely.
maniceightball: It seems that Bertone Carozzeria (contract manufacturing) is being spun off from Stile Bertone. Carozzeria has a plant in Turin that does 70k units/year on two shifts, 100k/year with three. And not much else.
Hey – Bertone are doing 70k/year? Not so bad. Turin is also home to Pininfarina and I hear they got problems… lost the Mitsubishi Colt and serious downtime on the Ford Focus Cariolet.
Edward — interesting, I didn’t know that. I wonder what the value of buying them would be then… I mean, historically it’s been a design house who seems to make most of its money on intellectual property rather than physical goods.
Makes sense. With a capacity of 70000/year, they could build all the Chryslers the North American market can absorb. Then the build quality issues can be dealt with by Fix It Again Bertone.
Bertone have that CAPACITY not that much output. Maybe this is the quickest way for Super Sergio to increase output on the 500, without having to make more Ford Kas at the same time?