bertone

The Bertone girls can't seem to keep their disputes out of local courts, as the widow of the late Nuccio Bertone and their daughters are at each others' throats once again.

Previous legal disputes centered around matriarch Lilli Bertone's attempt to sell the company to Domenico Reviglio, to say nothing of the bankruptcy administration under which the company fell recently. The latest saga once again involves Lilli, who, despite holding the largest share of the company and acting as its chair, serves no management role.

In our next life, we hope we don't come back as a concept car. The show-bound vehicles get rushed through development, fussed over, shipped off to some exposition hall to be scrutinized by people like us, then all but completely forgotten. It's a rough existence. But every dog has his day, and for some of the world's most beautiful show cars, that day comes at Villa d'Este.

Got some time to burn? Of course you do! iMotor Mag has created a game to punish the wayward children of esteemed Italian design houses. Where designers such as Pininfarina and Bertone have penned gems like the Ferrari F599 and the Lamborghini Miura, they have also thrust the Peugeot 1007 and Skoda Favorit on unwary car shoppers (hey, even designers have to eat...).

We were saddened when we couldn't track down this Bertone B.A.T. 11 in Geneva last year and even sadder when we missed it in Los Angeles in November. Don't blame us. They stuck it in the basement for crying out loud. The B.A.T. 11 is an updated take on the B.A.T. 5, B.A.T. 7 and B.A.T. 9 concepts built by Nuccio Bertone in the '50s. BAT stands for Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica (Aerodynamic Technical Coupe) and as you can see, this concept lives up to its name. While the original B.A.T. concepts have become some of the most coveted collector cars in the world, this new one is designed with a slightly different slant.

It's been a rough few years for Italy's coachbuilders, and times aren't getting any easier. Bertone almost went under before a rescue plan was approved by the courts at the eleventh hour, and now Pininfarina is poised to follow them down the same path. Drowning in nearly €600 million in debt, Pininfarina is set to shut down its contract manufacturing operations and concentrate on its own electric vehicle initiative while the family loses control of its company to the banks.

Click above for a gallery of Bertone's Alfa BAT 11 concept car

Enthusiasts of exotic Italian automobiles everywhere owe a debt of gratitude to Adam Gordon. The New York real estate developer has just completed what is sure to have been an extremely costly restoration of the Lamborghini Bertone Miura Spyder. We say "the" Miura Spyder because it is the only one ever made. In fact its serial number doesn't even show in the company's register.

The future of Bertone has taken a big step in the right direction on the road to recovery with the company's design division, Stile Bertone, spun off as a separate entity. Ownership of the newly independent design house will be split between the Bertone family (49.5%) and the Italian courts (50.5%), with former Aprilia motorcycle chief Teresio Gaudio coming in as managing director.