Automotive News has followed up their report earlier this month that historic Italian design and engineering concern Bertone is set to self-fund and build a new 'Coupé-Cabriolet' for Fiat Auto with further news of the project, and new comments from Lilli Bertone.

They report that 70-year-old Lilli Bertone, the widow of 'Nuccio' Bertone, who apart from holding a controlling interest in the group is also the Chairwoman and CEO of the firm's Carrozzeria Bertone and Stile Bertone subsidiaries, is firmly driving forward future planning. “What Nuccio left is not for us, but to keep the company going, because it was generated by the company,” she told the newspaper. Coachbuilder Bertone has struggled somewhat for design and engineering work in recent years. A contract to build the GM Opel Astra convertible came to an end late last year with the carmaker taking its replacement model in-house, and the only major work Bertone currently has on the books is to convert a 2,000 unit limited-edition run of Mini Cooper S models. Bertone recently styled the attractive Alfa GT Coupé, showing that they easily retain all the flair and ability that turned them into a global household name.

AN tout a figure of around 150 million euros to launch a new Lancia-branded CC model, which they believe Bertone will wholly finance themselves. “We never bought expensive yachts,” AN quote Lilli Bertone as saying, adding: “so we can afford to finance such a project.” It is becoming an increasingly prevailing pattern that major engineering firms finance niche build projects for manufacturers themselves, a thread that has been seen with Pininfarina's latest contract for the new Alfa Brera and Spider models. “We used to be paid upfront for the investments we made for carmakers,” she added to AN, “but if the new rule of the game is to finance a project to remain in business, we proudly accept the challenge.”

The Bertone Group was originally founded in November 1912, when Giovanni Bertone, then aged 28, opened a workshop specialising in the construction and repair of horse-drawn carriages. He started out with just three workers. At the beginning of the 20th century cars were a rarity in Turin. The traffic on the roads was nearly all carriages, and the ones built by Bertone stood out immediately for their careful craftsmanship, sturdiness and high quality. The experts soon came to recognise the sound of a Bertone going by on the cobbled streets. In 1914 Giuseppe, the second son in the Bertone family, was born. Everyone took to calling him 'Nuccio', the nickname which was to stay with him for the rest of his life, and become synonymous with Italian style throughout the world. After World War II Nuccio took over running the family business, rapidly building it up into an internationally renown design and engineering concern.

AN report that Fiat Auto's top management believe it to be financially unviable to built a Fiat branded CC model, citing rapidly declining sales for the Peugeot 206CC - the dominant market leader in the segment that any new Grande Punto based CC would slot into - and equally minimal sales numbers for other class players, including the GM Opel Tigra TwinTop and Nissan Micra C+C.
 

They report that Bertone has been in close discussions with Fiat Auto for more than two years to build such a car with Stile Bertone leading with proposals that evolved into the recent Suagnà concept car. Earlier this year David Wilkie was appointed Design Director of Stile Bertone. Born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1958. David Wilkie studied at the Royal college of Art in London, achieving a Masters in Design. After beginning his career with the PSA Group, Wilkie then moved on to Ghia. In 2003 Wilkie joined Stile Bertone as Interior Design Director. “The nomination of David Wilkie as Design Director, said Lilli Bertone at the time is coherent with the strategy of reinforcing the Design activity in Stile Bertone.”

Stile Bertone, which first opened in 1971, sees itself as a partner capable of following all aspects of a manufacturer project along with the responsibility to provide certified quality results. Stile Bertone includes on-site offices and workshops for its clients to allow a seamless operation to be carried out.

Last month, on the occasion of the 76th Geneva International Motor Show, Bertone pulled the wraps of a brand new 'coupé-cabriolet' showcar, called the Suagnà and based on the Fiat Grande Punto. This car, which demonstrated its fully operational and functional folding roof arrangement to visitors, is now likely to be translated into a potential Lancia model.

Fiat Auto's management clearly see a 'niche' Lancia CC model, with a targeted annual production run of 20,000 units and able to command a 2,000-2,500 euro premium over a Grande Punto-badged CC, as the correct path to follow. So Lancia are “considering the project" AN quote a Fiat Auto insider as saying. They add that the project will probably cost an extra 3-5 million euros in order to engineer the Grande Punto platform to become a Lancia-branded model as new front and rear bumpers, bonnet and lights will all be require to give it an identity well away from the Fiat model. The doors however will be retained in the same manner that GM are using them on their own forthcoming version of the Grande Punto which will be badged as the next-generation Corsa.

AN add that a full size Lancia CC model has already been built by Lancia's own design centre and which has been approved by Fiat Auto, although further component-sharing cost-savings will be required before a green light can be given to the project. From the project's approval a 20-22 month timescale is envisioned to put the car into full production.