Venturi Automobiles is a French-founded Monegasque-based multinational automotive manufacturer that designs, manufactures, and sells luxuryelectric vehicles.
Founded in 1984 by engineers Claude Poiraud and Gérard Godfroy as MVS (Manufacture de Voitures de Sport), the company's purpose was to compete in the "Grand Tourisme" market. This was only the most recent post-war attempt at building a sporty luxury car in France, following in the footsteps of Facel Vega, Monica, and Ligier.[4] As with its predecessors, Venturi was immediately faced with many challenges ranging from an unknown name to its under-capitalized and under-staffed state. Venturi did nonetheless manage to continue in production for nearly sixteen years, declaring bankruptcy in 2000. In 2001, Monegasque Gildo Pallanca Pastor purchased Venturi, and decided to focus on electric-powered engines. This change of direction led to the limited-production Fétish.
In December 2009, Venturi announced its acquisition of French motorcycle manufacturer Voxan. The acquisition would effectively allow Venturi to enter the motorcycle market. In August 2011, Venturi announced the creation of Venturi North America, based in Columbus, Ohio. Venturi North America was primarily created as a research and development center, and as such, maintains a close working relationship with the Center for Automotive Research.
The first Venturi came out in 1984, created by Claude Poiraud and Gérard Godfroy, two former engineers at Heuliez. The goal was to present the only "Grand Tourisme" French car capable of competing with the English Aston Martin, the Italian Ferrari, and the German Porsche. The first car shown had a Volkswagen Golf GTi engine and the name was originally spelled "Ventury", with a "y" at the end. In 1985, the car was shown with a 200 PS (147 kW) Peugeot 505 Turbo engine, but by the 1986 Paris Motor Show it had reached its definitive form with the PRV V6 engine. Production began in 1987, with five cars built in the first year with production increasing in the subsequent years. The headquarters of the company was located in Couëron, Pays de Loire, where almost 750 cars were produced in the forthcoming 20 years.
Venturi 260 LM
From 1987 to the mid-1990s, they built mid-engined coupés and roadsters with turbochargedPRV engines and Renaultgearboxes. Engine power ranged from 160 to 260 PS (118 to 191 kW) for the then offered MVS Venturi Coupé and Transcup series.
Venturi was also briefly involved with the LarrousseFormula One team. The team's 1992 car, which bore the Venturi name, was designed and built by Venturi Larousse UK, a British company formerly known as Fomet 1, which had previously designed the 1991 Fondmetal Formula One cars.[5]
Venturi 400 GT rear viewVenturi 400 GT red
Venturi proved that its cars are best in the French market. The Venturi 400 GT remains one of the best performing French cars ever produced, and it is in fact the very first car in the world to have standard carbon brakes.[6] True to that claim, the Atlantique 400 GT with a 2,975 cc (3.0 L; 181.5 cu in) DOHC4 valves per cylinder twin-turboV6 engine rated at 300 kW (408 PS; 402 hp) @ 6000 rpm and 520 N⋅m (384 lb⋅ft) @ 4500 rpm of torque with a compression ratio of 7.3:1, [7] delivered excellent performance to put it on par with Ferraris of the early 90s. The 400 GT could hit 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.7 seconds and 291 km/h (181 mph) top speed, while the Atlantique 300 Biturbo with a 310 PS (306 bhp; 228 kW) V6 did 4.7 seconds to 100 km/h (62 mph) and went all the way to 275 km/h (171 mph). [8]
Venturi Transcup 210
A limited-edition 400 GTR was built to satisfy the homologation requirements to compete 24 Hours of Le Mans. High-level competition has also brought fame to the brand. Stéphane Ratel, who would later found the FIA GT Championship, was at the origin of the Venturi Gentlemen Drivers Trophy, which gathered an impressive array of 75 drivers. Venturi has also won fame through its brilliant performances in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, particularly in 1993 with Christophe Dechavanne and Jacques Laffite on Venturi Jaccadi team, and in 1995 with Paul Belmondo racing on the 600 SLM.
However, it was in the BPR Global GT Series races that Venturi established its pedigree defeating Porsche and Ferrari on several occasions. In 1994 in Dijon-Prenois, with Ferté and Neugarten on the 600 LM Jaccadi, at the 1000 km of Paris with Henri Pescarolo and Jean-Claude Basso on the 600 LM, and finally at the 4 Hours Spa race, once again with Michel Ferté and Michel Neugarten.
In 2001, the Monegasque millionaire Gildo Pallanca Pastor bought Venturi and decided to focus on electric-powered engines,[9] leading to the Fétish model. More recent models are the Eclectic, the world's first energy-autonomous vehicle, a low speed vehicle that has solar panels and a built-in wind charger and can be plugged in; and the Astrolab, the world's first solar-electric hybrid car. There have been approximately 60-65 orders for the Fétish, but only about 30 have been delivered as of 2011.
List of models
MVS Venturi (includes Coupé and Cabriolet versions)
500 LM - a limited number (~7) were produced and raced at Le Mans, Jarama and Zolder in 1993
600 LM - further racing cars were produced later in 1993 with the newer engine[10][11]
600 SLM - single example built in 1995, but other cars (originally 600 LM models) have been modified to similar specifications. Appeared at Suzuka, Japan, and Zhuhaï, China.[12]
^Decker, Jean-Paul (July 2014). "Requiem pour un nom" [Requiem for a name]. Rétroviseur (in French) (302). Fontainebleu, France: Éditions LVA: 70. ISSN0992-5007.
^Henry, Alan (1992). Autocourse: the World's Leading Grand Prix Annual 1992-93. Motorbooks Intl. p. 83. ISBN0-905138-96-1.
^ abcLiszewski, Nicolas (2004-12-23). "Guide d'achat: Venturi 400-GT" [Buyers' Guide] (in French). l'Automobile Sportive. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
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Bertrand Gachot
Ukyo Katayama
