Sketches of the concept car that Bertone is set to present at the 82nd Geneva Motor Show next month have leaked out, and reveal a supercar wedge shape in the style of the design house’s golden era – appropriately, the new car will be dubbed ‘Nuccio’, in tribute to the man who guided the company through this period, Nuccio Bertone.

Little concrete information exists yet about the new concept, but from the two sketches it is set to excite fans of the Italian design house, which regularly puts out showstoppers at the Swiss Palexpo. With that said, last year’s Geneva concept, the Jaguar B99 study, was somewhat bland and quickly forgotten, although the year prior, Bertone celebrated both Alfa Romeo’s centenary and its long association with the Italian brand with the sensational Pandion.

With the historic design business now back in the hands of Nuccio’s octogenarian widow Lilli, the long thread of history has been re-established within the firm.

In naming the new car after her late husband, who was integral in putting Bertone at the forefront of the ‘Turin’ school of design and forging an impressive global reputation in the process, this is a further symbolic step towards carefully joining up the dots.

In spirit at least, the Nuccio is a concept the former Bertone boss would have approved of – a mid-engined sportscar with the bulk of its weight planted firmly between the axles. It offers hints of the famous Stratos Zero project, which only recently enjoyed its 40th anniversary. Nuccio was famed for taking risks and moving design thinking forward and the Zero – which provided the inspiration for the legendary Lancia Stratos – shocked crowds when it debuted at the 1971 Turin Motor Show.

The Stratos Zero marked the first pointer towards an era when Bertone became famed for penning perfectly-balanced mid-engined sports car designs, reflecting Nuccio’s own driving passions. In this respect, the new concept can draw on a proud lineage from the Italian studio, which includes Fiat’s X1/9, the Lancia Stratos, Ferrari’s 308 GT4, and Lamborghini Urraco. Before the ’70s had even kicked off, however, Bertone had set the mid-engined ball rolling with the Lamborghini Miura, a supercar that set new benchmarks and revolutionised thinking about high-performance sportscars.