Bertone, one of Italy’s legendary styling houses, is in Geneva this week celebrating 75 years of collaboration with Alfa Romeo with Pandion, an aggressive yet beautiful coupé designed as a tribute to Alfa Romeo’s one hundred year anniversary. It marks a triumphant return to the Swiss motor show after a two-year absence for Bertone which in the meantime went to the brink of its existence as the failure of its contract manufacturing division to attract new business pulled Gruppo Bertone down.

Instead with Lilli Bertone, the widow of Nuccio Bertone, firmly back in the driving seat having emerged on top in a bitter family feud and with the Grugliasco-based contract manufacturing facilities sold off to Fiat Group, Stile Bertone, now faces the future with optimism and with a new design team in place. It's first project is Pandion.

Revealed in Geneva yesterday the Pandion is an extreme and controversial sports car in typical Bertone fashion. The size of the concept car (4620 mm in length, 1971 mm wide, 1230 mm high, 2850 mm wheelbase) offers a compact sports car external dimensions with a large sports car interior feeling, all powered by a 4.7 litre, 450 CV 8-cylinder Alfa Romeo engine.

The partnership between Bertone and Alfa Romeo dates back to the early 1930s: it is one of the most fascinating partnerships in the history of car design due to its incisive draughtsmanship and formal elegance. These characteristics have been applied to 23 models, including one-offs and production cars constructed over the last 75 years.

The Pandion is the first car produced by Mike Robinson in his new role as Design and Brand Director at Bertone. A pure ‘dream car’, the Pandion takes its rightful place as a member of Bertone’s historic Alfa Romeo family: cars that have always been style icons, influencing the history of the automobile and Italian craftsmanship in their excellent design quality, proving themselves to be undisputed benchmarks for the entire world of car design.

The name comes from the animal world, as Pandion Haliaetus is the scientific name for an Osprey: a sea hawk that nests and lives in coastal areas. The designers, led by Mike Robinson, have drawn inspiration from the wings of this predator to invent the spectacular door opening mechanisms, and from the hawks’ facial markings to project the traditional Alfa family feeling into the next era of design. In almost a century of Bertone tradition, it is not the first time that natural wonders have inspired the names of concept cars. Just think of the Corvair Testudo (1963) and, by no coincidence, the Alfa Romeo Canguro (1964), Carabo (1968) and Delfino (1983).

Design: the initial concept

The Pandion’s taut and muscular body is the result of an original interpretation of the Alfa Romeo badge, where the man-eating snake depicted there represents the attraction of elegance (what we call the ‘Skin’), and the aristocratic cross symbolises the rigour of rational  thought, the technological aspect (what we call the ‘Frame’). According to this interpretation, the Pandion’s design is, like every Alfa Romeo, a perfect synthesis between ‘Skin and Frame’, an ideal balance resulting from a tension between opposites: technology and sensuality, rationality and instinct, architecture and sculpture, structuralism and organicism, industrial excellence and excellent craftsmanship.

The design of the Pandion is based on a concept Robinson calls: "Skin & Frame” - a new interpretation of the inherent duality in the 100 year old Alfa Romeo logo. “Skin” refers to the snake in the logo, representing the world renowned Italian excellence in beautiful, seductive forms; and “Frame” refers to the cross in the logo, representing the mechanical excellence in high performance Italian race cars. The combination of the two has now become a dynamic dial searching for an ideal balance resulting from the tension between opposites: technology and sensuality, rational and emotional, architectural layout and sculptural form, structural and organic, industrial excellence and artisan excellence. According to this interpretation, the vibrant energy in every Alfa Romeo is represented by Pandions’ spinal structure (or ‘Frame’), which crosses the length of the car from the V-shaped grille in the nose of the car to the V-shaped bumper in the tail of the car, crossing the interior as a visually aesthetic structural element which supports the surrounding shell (or ‘Skin’).

Design: details that count

The Pandion’s front end features a long and sculpted sloping bonnet that creates what is, to all intents and purposes, a mask, almost like the helmets worn by ancient warriors. The Alfa Romeo ‘family feeling’, immediately recognizable at first glance, does not admit even a hint of retro nostalgia and looks to the future with a revolutionary and novel elegance. There is no doubt it’s an Alfa Romeo with a look that has never been seen heretofore. The typical Alfa quad headlights are buried deep in the outer-most tips of the T-shaped grille, highlighting the wide stance of the impressive coupé. Four white bars of light strike the observers’ curiosity, two position lights above and two fog lights below, creating a virtual bi-plane of light at night. The typical five horizontal bars on every Alfa Romeo radiator grille are just visible here, offering a reference to the marque’s historic identity. The front grille is full of thousands of tiny intertwined blades which contribute to the new Algorithmic Design throughout the car.

The Pandion has the profile of a true sports car, with no room for compromise. The architectural layout is ‘cab rearward’, meaning the passenger compartment is positioned towards the rear of the car and the long bonnet pushes the car’s visual centre rearward. The body side visually connects the sensuous front end with the razor-edged rear by means of an extremely long flowing side window which stretches from front wheel arch to rear, enhancing the excellent accessibility of this low-bodied sports coupé. Since sports cars are traditionally difficult to get in and out of, this important ergonomic activity has been facilitated with an extra wide door opening to make up for the low roofline. This new graphic formula not only adds a striking new visual division between the upper and lower parts of the body, but it also offers an incredible panorama window for passengers inside. The strong diagonal dark-light division in the rear of the side view accentuates the powerful rear wheel drive layout and draws special attention to the hidden door opening mechanism.

The rear end features a striking array of crystal-like blades which are intertwined in various widths and lengths, protruding out into space. The rear of the car in fact has a disembodied or “pixilated” look, representing a tail-of-the-comet metaphor, as if the sheer speed of the vehicle is pulling the underlying, technical “Frame” rearward, away from the sensuous, flowing “Skin” above. This “dematerialization” phenomenon of the car is generated by the intrinsic motion of the form, which means the car looks like it is moving even when it is standing still. There are also two small fixed white shields below the rear bumper which hold the quad tailpipes, creating a visual continuation of the white side panels which seem to wrap around under the car. The taillights are fully integrated into the organic tangle of the blades and disappear when turned off. The new Alfa Romeo family feeling is again visible in the rear of the car with same V-shaped bumper found on the front of the vehicle, which the travels the entire length of the body, forming a powerful virtual, Alfa Romeo backbone.

The doors, as in many other Bertone-designed masterpieces (such as the 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo, the 1970 Lancia Stratos 0, the 1972 Lamborghini Countach, and the 2007 Fiat Barchetta), open in a visually striking manner. Virtually hinged around the axis of the rear wheel, the Pandion doors open by rotating backwards, ending up a perfect 90 degrees above the center of the rear wheel, lifting up the entire body side of the vehicle, from the front fender to the rear fender. When fully open they are more than 3.6 metres high. This spectacular solution is design mainly for glamour, bringing back the “wow” factor to today’s lackluster automotive industry. This futuristic door mechanism also has a pragmatic side as well. Since all ‘extreme’ sports cars are literally impossible to get in and out of, the Pandion is designed to utilize the horizontal space in the car since the vertical space is so limited. In the event of an accident that results in a ‘roll-over’, the doors detach from the car body so that the passengers can exit of the car.

The interior: minimalist glamour

The shapes that make the Pandion spring to life are the result of a design study aimed at creating an organic whole, without resorting to short-cuts to ensure continuity between the interior and exterior, a perfect balance between architectural rigour and the spectacular shapes of living organisms. The design language used to create the passenger compartment has resulted in a fluid environment, due to the fittings that seem to have grown spontaneously, without ever having been either designed or constructed. We have named this expressive code, never seen before in the automotive sector until today, algorithmic design. The concept, taken from the world of mathematics, indicates an organic alternative to traditional design and is the ‘propagation of random forms’. It is as if the design were following a kind of complex development which is neither linear nor geometric, generating an ‘auto-organising’ shape, with the ‘spontaneous growth’ of algorithms such as  ‘swarms’ or ‘vines’.

When observing the interior of the Pandion, the first things that draw our attention are the front seats. The car’s layout is typical of Alfa Romeo coupés, i.e. 2+2. While the two rear seats are the classic ‘extra spaces’, the front seats are two incredibly thin (30 mm) ergonomic chaise longue chairs. They have carbon fiber shells (that mimic the style of the car’s exoskeleton or ‘skin’) covered in Technogel® and backlit with reLIGHT® fabric, that conforms to the shape of the driver’s or passenger’s body. The principle that inspired the designers was that of ‘zero gravity’, i.e. a warm and welcoming environment that would convey a sensation of enhanced quality of life inside at first sight, but… with zero gravity.

In fact, all the furnishings inside the passenger compartment all tend to float visually, suspended in the magic of the blue light. Behind these minimalist choices however lies a careful study of ergonomics: the seats are the result of a perfect synthesis between high performance, flexibility and lightness. The clear floor is illuminated in the same “swimming pool blue” color of the seats, offering a spectacular visual continuation of the voluptuous seats, with its’ flowing contours where the driver and passenger can feel protected in a truly glamorous shell.

The steering wheel is clearly that of a sports car, while the controls are similar to those of Alfa Romeo race cars, with two analogue dials placed directly on the steering column. Three of the four LCD screens offer a rear view inside the passenger compartment (two on the sides, one on the windscreen) and they are directly connected to the external video cameras that substitute the rear view mirrors normally placed outside the car. The larger screen placed in the centre (9”), in the middle of the console – and within reach of the passenger as well as the driver – also displays information on the car’s systems (air conditioning, sound systems, Sat Nav, etc…).

Conclusion

‘We are walking in the footprints of giants.’ That is the Bertone company motto. The giants referred to are Giovanni and Nuccio Bertone. However, following in their footsteps does not mean copying them, on the contrary. It means applying their teachings and using them as guidelines for further advances. We ask our designers to follow a total creative method, where they observe phenomena that are apparently unrelated to each other and try to apply them to the automotive world.

However design research is not enough. At Bertone we study concepts, and therefore each design is the result or a spinoff of an innovative idea or a new phenomenon. Mike Robinson, Design & Brand Director at Bertone, comments: ‘Cars are like films: they must tell a story to win people over. The best car designers are necessarily excellent narrators and their products, whether they are concept cars or mass-produced products, reflect their creators’ ability to gather fascinating ideas from every field, from all over the world, to bring them together and transform them into new and great stories. This is what we have attempted to do with the Alfa Pandion.’ 

A century of history: Alfa Romeos by Bertone

The partnership between Bertone and Alfa Romeo dates back to the early 1930s: it is one of the most fascinating partnerships in the history of car design due to its incisive draughtsmanship and formal elegance. These characteristics have been applied to 23 models, including one-offs and production cars constructed over the last 75 years. The first Alfa Romeo by Bertone was a luxurious 7-seater limousine built on a 6C 2300 chassis in 1933. After a pause during the Second World War, an opulent coupé on a 6C 2500 chassis was produced in 1947 that caused a stir in the world of car design due to the join at the side of its front wing.

In the early 1950s (1953), Bertone designed a coupé built on a 1900 chassis that marked the beginning of a great period of extraordinarily productive creativity. In fact, that same year saw the debut at the Turin Motor Show of the BAT (Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica) 5, built on an Alfa Romeo 1900 chassis: the BAT 5 featured an extremely streamlined aerodynamic body and two large tailfins that seemed to belong to science fiction cars.

In 1954, which was almost a culmination due to the many fortuitous design intuitions that emerged, saw the debut of the Giulietta Sprint, which was immediately met with extraordinary commercial success: more than 34,000 of them were produced up until 1965. That same year also saw the creation of the acclaimed 2000 Sportiva, with a 138 CV engine taken from the Giulietta Sprint. Only two versions of this model, which due to its features and the harmonious balance of its shape is almost the very essence of an Italian sporty coupé, were ever produced, one of which was a ‘barchetta’ with the passenger compartment shielded only by a small quarterlight. In that same year, 1954, also at the Turin Motor Show, Bertone amazed the world with the BAT 7, where design themes first introduced the year before by the BAT 5 were taken to more daring heights with voluptuous, Manta Ray-style fins. The use of tailfins, though subtle, was repeated once more in 1955 with the Spider Perla, built on the chassis of a Giulietta Sprint.

1955 was an exciting year for the Bertone-Alfa Romeo partnership. The BAT 9 – the least controversial of the BAT trio, though it preserved all the charm of that design – debuted at the Turin Motor Show. Following a request by the American importer Max Hoffmann, Bertone produced a Giulietta Sprint-based Spider, which was notable for its contained and muscular car body, with a centrally placed passenger compartment and a hint of back tailfins. The 1950s came to an end with a few design proposals that announced various themes that Bertone was to develop during the following decade. We can see hints of these in the Giulietta Berlina (1958), the new Giulietta Sprint (1958) and the Alfa 2000 Granluce (1959). The year 1959 also saw the production of the Giulietta Sprint Speciale (SS), that repeated features present in the BAT series.

In 1960, the 2000 Sprint made its debut: an elegant and luxurious coupé, 700 of which were built up until 1962. That same year, Bertone also created a 4-seater convertible version of the car which however was not produced commercially, and Bertone was also behind the design of the 2000 and the Giulia T.I. In 1963, the Frankfurt Motor Show saw the unveiling of the Giulia GT which replaced the Giulietta Sprint while repeating its enormous success: more than 200,000 of them were built up until 1977, in versions and engine adaptations used in the world of car racing as well. It was also in 1963 that Bertone prepared two cars that were destined to remain one-offs: the 2600 Sprint HS and the Giulia Sprint Speciale. The following year, Bertone produced a coupé built on a Giulia TZ chassis which was destined to become a benchmark in the world of car design: the Canguro. Unveiled at the Turin Motor Show, the Canguro boasted what was then a futuristic shape, with windows flush with the car body, and the bonnet and panels produced in a wraparound unit hinged at the front.

The sporty coupé style continued to fascinate Bertone, who in 1967 unveiled a 2+2 rich in innovative design features: the Montreal. The following year, Bertone also produced a new Berlina 1750; 200,000 of them were produced up until 1977. In 1968, at the Paris Motor Show, Bertone exhibited a car which was revolutionary both in terms of design and performance: the Carabo. It was a time of change and people demanded that ‘imagination take power’. Bertone went one step further and made the power of imagination a concrete reality, with all the rigour of a great draughtsman. The Carabo, built on the chassis of an Alfa 33 ‘Stradale’, was the very first mono-volume, cab-forward, mid-engine sports car in the history of the automobile. Its flattened wedge shape was just 99 cm high and was accessible via the very first front hinged doors designed for easy access. The car also featured a striking straight cut boot.

The 1970s took off with the Montreal no longer a prototype and now manufactured commercially (around 3,000 of them were built up until 1977), while the Alfa 199 project – a 4-seater coupé with a strong personality – was abandoned. The Alfa 33 was the source of inspiration for a concept car that made its debut in 1976: the Navajo. The use of fibreglass allowed for a more daring, razor-edged shape, with its large arched spoiler integrated into the greenhouse.  The 1970s came to an end with a proposal for an Alfetta GT which was destined to remain a one-off.

With the economic upturn of the 1980s, cars regained their hedonistic side and Bertone revived a theme dear to his heart:  the executive sporty coupé. The result was the Delfino which debuted in 1983 and which featured an elegant spatial balance between glass and metal and a truly tasteful interior finish. 1984 was the year that saw the Alfa 90 enter production, offering new directions for the elegant and high-performance saloon inaugurated 30 years before with the unforgettable 1900.

In 1997, a year before his death, Bertone designed an elegant and sophisticated sports-utility car ahead of its time: the Sportut. The Sportut was a study for a compact off-road vehicle built on an Alfa 145 chassis which made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show. Bertone continued to be inspired by Alfa Romeo even after Nuccio Bertone’s death. In 1999, again in Geneva, the Bella was unveiled. This was a luxurious 2+2 coupé built on an Alfa 166 chassis that had the architectural structure of a classic Italian coupé combined with a truly winning design.