The lines at Grugliasco have remained idle since a contract to built a Vauxhall/Opel Astra coupé (above) and convertible for GM ran out two years ago.

Bertone is gearing up for its bankruptcy hearing with the courts next Tuesday with its future once more in confusion after a mooted rescue plan failed to materialise at the last minute.

The week long dramas kicked off on Tuesday when Bertone issued a statement in which CEO Lilli Bertone promised to unveil a bold new rescue plan on Wednesday which would save 1,000 of the 1,300 workers' jobs which are threatened at the Grugliasco plant in Turin. In the statement she said that Bertone had received "a letter of intent from an industrial group with a strong track record in the automotive field." At the same time Bertone said that on-going talks with DR Motors to assemble an SUV and pickup at the plant had come to an unfruitful end. Luca Falasca, the CEO of DR Motors, later told Automotive News Europe that he had only learnt about the end of the talks from the Bertone press release.

The Italian media has speculated that one of Italy's most experienced businessmen, Gian Mario Rossignolo, a former Chairman of Telecom Italian and Prima Industrie, was putting together a plan which would see Bertone building SUVs. However Rossignolo has denied the reports. Meanwhile the unions were immediately sceptical about the proposals, preferring to wait for the bankruptcy procedures set for December 18th. "We will listen to the company, but right now we think a commissioner named by the Turin bankruptcy court could be the safest solution for Bertone workers," Automotive News Europe reported the Fiom Turin general secretary Giorgio Airaudo as saying.

However a meeting to outline the rescue plan, which was due to be presented to the company's union and the Industry Minister Pierluigi Bersani in Rome on Wednesday, was cancelled at the last minute and a further meeting with the unions scheduled for today (Friday) has also been jettisoned from the schedule. Lilli Bertone was reported to be having a private meeting with the minister though later this week.

Bertone has to work fast. The bankruptcy hearing is set for next Tuesday (18th December) and the state funded layoff payments, which run for up to a maximum of two years, are set to run out on 31st December. With a production capacity of 70,000 units per annum (breakeven is 30,000 units) the lines at Grugliasco have remained idle since a contract to built a Vauxhall/Opel Astra coupé and convertible for GM ran out two years ago. Since then only a limited-edition conversion programme, for the Mini Cooper Works Grand Prix model, has rolled out of the factory.

Rumours to be tied to Bertone this year include a camper van conversion for Iveco, the restarting of production of the recently failed British niche sportscar maker TVR, assembling a Chinese-designed SUV and pick-up for Italian firm DR Motors, and producing vehicles for specialist Dutch high performance carmaker Spyker, who currently doesn't have the capacity to build several of its proposed models.