Death and resurrection of Italian coachbuilders

Abstract:

In a short space of time the car styling supply chain has undergone deep changes, which are being amplified by the current economic-financial crisis. This situation has been affecting coachbuilders for quite some time now: they have witnessed a progressive decrease in orders for producing and assembling the bodywork of limited series models and they have concentrated more and more on the development of niche models and on advanced research, engineering, and production system planning. This decrease in the production of complete vehicles for carmakers has affected not only Italian coachbuilders, Bertone and Pininfarina, but also the European ones, such as Karmann in Germany, Heuliez in France, and Valmet in Finland. All these manufacturers are undergoing a deep restructuring phase
The aim of this paper is to analyse Turin’s coachbuilder, Bertone and Pininfarina, in order to highlight their peculiar features and operating strategies, now that they radically modified their structures.
Unfortunately the paper is still in progress and the Pininfaina re-organisation case is barely outlined, more data will be presented at the conference.