At the 77th Geneva International Motor Show next month Italian design house Bertone will unveil a new futuristic and minimalist concept sports car based on the recently introduced Fiat Panda 100 HP. With an aluminium body, contoured bucket sports seats, and distinctive clear door panel inserts and an enveloping windshield this car is set to stand out.

A brief statement was released by Bertone. "Aggressive and refined. "Futuristic and minimalist," it reads. "In extreme synthesis, that is the new Bertone-designed concept car with which the Company is celebrating its 95th anniversary at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show (8-18 March 2007). Characterised by dynamic proportions and a dynamic style, the new concept car is a true open two-seater sports model on Fiat Panda 100 HP mechanicals that harks back explicitly to the Fiat 500 barchetta designed by a young Nuccio Bertone in 1947 as a one-off for his own personal use in races. Bertone’s choice of the Fiat brand to celebrate its 95th anniversary was both natural and emotional. Natural because Fiat is the Italian brand par excellence. Emotional because the birth of Bertone as a coachbuilder of “special” vehicles is closely linked to the history of the Fiat brand. The historic relationship between the two companies has lasted for more than eighty years and has generated more than fifty highly successful models counting concept cars, one-offs and production cars, from the 850 Spider to the X1/9, from the Ritmo Cabrio to the Punto Cabrio," it concludes.

No detailed information about this new concept project has been made as yet available by Bertone though, but it does seem to represent quite a change of stylistic direction for the historic design concern. During the last year Bertone has widely trailed its Fiat Grande Punto-based Suagnà concept car, a folding hardtop format "coupé-cabriolet" proposal that it is hoping Fiat Auto will soon put into niche production, badged and restyled either as a Fiat or Lancia model.
 

This new Bertone concept is based on the new Fiat Panda 100 HP which made its world debut at the Paris Motor Show last autumn; and is expected to use the small Fiat's chassis as well as its potent 1.4-litre 16v FIRE engine that achieves 100 bhp at 6,000 rpm, maximum torque of 131 Nm 4,250 rpm, a top speed of 185 km/h and dashes from 0 to 100 km/h in 9.5 seconds. The Panda 100 HP model also features uprated braking and suspension, as well as 15 inch wheels.

The new Bertone concept will celebrate the occasion of the Italian design and engineering firm's 95th anniversary. The Bertone firm was in fact founded in November 1912, when Giovanni Bertone, then aged just 28, opened a workshop specialising in the construction and repair of horse-drawn carriages. He started out in his business with only three workers. At the beginning of the 20th century cars were a rarity in Turin.

The traffic on the roads in those days was nearly all made up of carriages, and the ones that were 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 carriage going by on the cobbled streets. Then in 1914 Giuseppe, the second son in the Bertone family, was born. Everyone swiftly 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. In his hands Bertone would grow into a globally-famous name, a true symbol of Italian style and panache.