Gruppo Bertone was a company founded in 1912 and was mainly involved in automotive design and coachbuilding; it worked with some of the famous and well-established brands in the industry. Famous designer Marcello Gandini worked under this company for about 14 years, and you already know some of the iconic nameplates penned by Gandini under Bertone. But sadly, the company filed for bankruptcy in 2014 and disappeared from the automotive scene. But the good news is that the brand is now under the ownership of Mauro and Jean-Franck Ricci, and the Ricci brothers decided to revive the brand with the Bertone GB110.
Of course, these are 3D renderings and the company probably hasn’t built the real thing yet, but the Ricci brothers have some big ambitions with the GB110. They plan to build only 33 units. We don’t have the information of when and where (yet), but let’s talk a bit about the car itself. In design boss Giovanni Sapio’s words, the GB110’s design pays “homage to Bertone designs from the ’50s and ’70s, merging the soft, rounded lines of the ’50s with ’70s style sharp edges”.
The GB110 has a sensual, flowing shape continuing the aesthetics of cars such as the Alfa BAT series, while also taking design cues from later wedge-shaped cars such as the Carabo and Stratos Zero. For instance, these two cars have inspired the apex claw on the rear wheel arch of the GB110, which embraces the passenger compartment.
Also, the glass door, an extreme design effect on the 1967 Marzal, or again the Stratos Zero is re-proposed in smaller dimensions on the doors. These doors feature kinematics that guarantees a vertical opening movement, a solution that not only looks spectacular but also celebrates the extrovert character of Bertone. – Sapio
The suspension setup is gonna be independent double wishbones front & rear, with a 4-way dampening adjustment. The car rides on a staggered setup of 21-inch wheels at the front and 22-inch at the rear. Although the Ricci brothers claim to bring 38 years of engineering and automotive experience working with over 22,000 engineers, they definitely need help building the actual car. I mean, even Toyota and BMW need each other’s help in building cars. And so, the brothers are not disclosing who their development partner/s is/are, but just said that the “development of the chassis is based on components from a German manufacturer”.
We don’t know what exactly powers the Bertone GB110, but the official statement says it’s gonna be a combustion engine. The estimated output figures are gonna be 1100 hp and 1100 Nm (I’m not entirely sure if they were high on something when they came up with these numbers). Apparently, the engine is gonna rev up to 8,400 rpm. The 0-100 km/h (62 mph) sprint time is gonna be 2.79 seconds, 0-200 km/h (124 mph) sprint time is gonna be 6.79 seconds and 0-300 km/h (186 mph) sprint time is gonna be 14 seconds. The top speed is gonna be over 380 km/h (236 mph). Transmission is gonna be a 7-speed automatic with all-wheel-drive.
But that’s not all. the engine will be capable of running on fuel made from plastic waste. “Through our partnership with Select Fuel, we take what was once a waste and convert it back into its original form,” says Jean-Franck Ricci, the new CEO of Bertone.
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