LONDON -- A group including Aston Martin's former CEO and the automaker's one-time majority shareholder plans to revive the Italian sports-car brand Bizzarrini.
The new company will be chaired by Ulrich Bez, who was CEO of Aston Martin from 2000 to 2013.
Backing will come from Rezam Alroumi, a Kuwaiti national who headed Adeem Investments, which provided the bulk of finance for the buyout of Aston Martin from Ford Motor in 2007.
Bizzarrini was established by former Ferrari engineer Giotto Bizzarrini, who built sports cars under his name from 1964 to 1969. The company is perhaps best known for the 5300 GT Strada coupe, which was based on an Iso Grifo A3C race car.
Giotto Bizzarrini is still alive but is not connected to the revival of his name, a spokesperson for the brand said.
The revived brand will focus on creating cars for collectors, said Janette Green, Aston Martin's former communications boss, who is now Bizzarrini's chief marketing officer.
Green would not confirm which cars the company will produce but said they will be very low volume and hinted at possible continuation models of the original cars.
"There could be scope for anything, continuation cars, new cars, but whatever we do we will do it properly and slowly and with full respect to the Bizzarrini heritage," Green told Automotive News Europe. The company will show a prototype of its first car next year, she said.
The cars are likely to be powered by an internal combustion engine and cost over 1 million pounds ($1.33 million), Green said. No decision has been made on a production location.
