Italy's Coachbuilding Industry Is Thriving - But At a Cost

The Italian coachbuilding industry took a massive hit during the latest global recession. Storied marques such as Bertone disappeared into the ether under the crushing pressures of debt and a shifting automotive industry that had become more self-sufficient.

Now, some eight years after the beginning of the recession, the Italian coachbuilding industry is making a fantastic comeback — albeit, at a cost.

According to Autocar, Italdesign (now Italdesign Giugiaro) and Pininfarina are enjoying the fruits of foreign direct investment.

For the former, its continued existence is the result of being swallowed-up by Volkswagen Group and becoming a pseudo-in-house firm whose work comes primarily from the group. And work is brisk, says CEO Jörg Astalosch.

“Last year, business was at a record high in 48 years,” Astalosch told Autocar.

Even with business at a high, Italdesign in particular wants to take on more work for more automakers.

“The bulk of the work is for the group, but we want to move away from that. We are a think tank for the industry, not just the VW Group,” said Astalosch.

However, to survive, Italdesign had to give up its independence. The firm is now 90-percent owned by Audi. The same applies to Pininfarina. A debt-for-equity deal will see Tech Mahindra of India take a 76-percent controlling share of the Italian design firm later this year.

It’s within this loss of independence that future struggles might be found: Why would an OEM commission work from a design house or coachbuilder that’s owned by a competing OEM?

To balance the books, design houses are taking on less glamorous tasks, such as building ‘pre-series’ cars — prototypes — for hot- and cold-weather testing.

They’re also taking on more prestigious projects, such as the Disco Volante and a spyder variant by Touring Superleggera, a design house that rose from the ashes in 2006 thanks to a group of investors. Touring is also the contract painter of high-end Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce models.

Whether that work will be enough to float them through the next recession is a question only time can answer. However, it seems those in charge at least have a plan going forward.

“We are rebuilding around six core competencies,” said Astalosch, “to put our investment money where we can make the most of it.”

[Image: Touring Superleggera]