Maggiora

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Glass V8
Glas 1700 GT Coupe
DeTomaso Pantera
Fiat Barchetta
Lancia Kappa Coupe

Maggiora was an Italian coachbuilder from Moncalieri near Turin. Among other things, it produced the Fiat Barchetta and the Lancia Kappa Coupé designed by Gianna Maggiora by hand, but other passenger cars were also refined into coupés and convertibles; the company also made one-offs and prototypes. Maggiora temporarily employed up to 430 people in Moncalieri, Chivasso and Val di Sangro-Atessa (as a supplier to the Sevel Süd plant ). In 1998 sales amounted to € 145.6 million.

History of vehicle manufacturing

The company was founded by Arturo Maggiora in Turin in 1925 under the name Martelleria Maggiora . In 1951 the workshop was moved to Borgo San Pietro Moncalieri. In Moncalieri, on behalf of Pietro Frua u. a. the bodies for the Glas 1300 and 1700 GT were made for the BMW 1600 GT (1963–1968), Glas V8 (1965) and the Maserati Mistral (1963) anyway. Other clients at this time were Alfa Romeo , Fiat , Lancia and later De Tomaso . In 1978 Maggiora became a public limited company and was named Ilca Maggiora SpA (Industria Lavorazione Carrozzerie Auto). After Erich Bitter had terminated the contract with the Carrozzeria OCRA in Turin, Maggiora received the order to build the bodies for the Bitter SC Coupé (1982) and the Bitter SC Sedan (1984). For Bristol Cars , Maggiora, as a subcontractor to Zagatos, produced the body shells for the 412 and Beaufighter .

After the death of Arturo Maggiora, the sons Vincenzo (born November 17, 1926), Mauro and Bruno (born November 30, 1936) and their daughter Giuseppina (born August 20, 1936) took over management of the company in 1985. In addition to small series production, Maggiora took over the Lancia plant in Chivasso in 1993 and manufactured the sporty top model of the Lancia Delta , Integrale Evoluzione , there for the last year , also taking into account special requests from customers, such as an individual vehicle for Laurent-Désiré Kabila .

In 1995, Fiat began manufacturing the Fiat Barchetta . Maggiora also developed the Barchetta Coupé , which however remained a one-off; its series production failed on the one hand due to free capacities, on the other hand because Fiat was already serving this market segment with the Fiat Coupé produced by Pininfarina from 1995 to 2000 . In 1996 the Lancia Kappa Coupé designed by Gianna Maggiora was presented and Maggiore took over the small series production, but this ended with the discontinuation of the Lancia Kappa in 2000. Then the study Granturismo Lancia was developed based on the successor model Lancia Thesis and presented two years later. There was no longer any series production, and in 2003 the company went bankrupt.

The production of small series and one-offs was given up, Fiat took over the tools from the Barchetta and continued to build them in its own factory. The Chiavasso plant was taken over by NCT ​​(Nuova Carrozzeria Torinese). Stola took over ILCA SpA.

The remaining sites in Carmagnola and Arbatax were converted for the production of the moped Hupper ("by Maggiora"). The current company has nothing in common with the original Maggiora car manufacturer, except for the factory floor.

Furthermore, at Maggiora research was carried out with renewable energy sources (e.g. methane ).

As a supplier

The subsidiary Irma SpA in Atessa manufactured sheet metal assembly groups for the Fiat models Ducato and Punto, and Emmedue Srl in the Chiavasso plant manufactured interior fittings for cars. Maggiora tried to reduce its dependence on Fiat by applying as a supplier for orders from VW, Audi and BMW, but did not receive an order.

Vehicles manufactured by Maggiora (selection)

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