Carrozzeria Ghia SpA (established 1916 in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...

) is an Italian

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

design and

coachbuilding A coachbuilder or body-maker is someone who manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.Construction has always been a skilled trade requiring a relatively lightweight product with sufficient strength. The manufacture of necessarily ...

firm, established by Giacinto Ghia and Gariglio as "Carrozzeria Ghia & Gariglio". The headquarters are located at Corso Guglielmo Marconi, 4,

. The company is currently owned by

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobiles ...

and focused on the European market through Ford's subsidiary in the region. Through the years, Ghia has produced many bodies for several automobile manufacturers such as

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." ...

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automot ...

, Ferrari,

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

, Ford,

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the thi ...

, and

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post ...

History

Ghia initially made lightweight

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in AmE, American and CanE, Canadian English) is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately o ...

-bodied cars, achieving fame with the Alfa Romeo 6C 1500, winning

Mille Miglia The Mille Miglia (, ''Thousand Miles'') was an open-road, motorsport endurance race established in 1927 by the young Counts Francesco Mazzotti and Aymo Maggi, which took place in Italy twenty-four times from 1927 to 1957 (thirteen before Worl ...

(1929). Between the world wars, Ghia designed special bodies for

, and

Lancia Lancia () is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of FCA Italy S.p.A., which is currently a Stellantis division. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganised its businesses, but it ...

, one of the most famous was the

Fiat 508 The 508 Balilla was a compact car designed and developed by Fiat in 1932. It was, effectively, the replacement of the Fiat 509, although production of the earlier model had ceased back in 1929. It had a three-speed transmission (increased to fou ...

''Balilla'' sports coupe (1933). The factory was rebuilt at Via Tomassi Grossi, after being demolished in an air raid during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

(1943). After Ghia's death (1944), the company was sold to Mario Boano and Giorgio Alberti. The Ghia-Aigle subsidiary was established in

Aigle , neighboring_municipalities= Vaud: Yvorne, Leysin, Ormont-Dessous, Ollon; Valais: Vouvry, Collombey-Muraz , twintowns = L'Aigle (France), Tübingen (Germany), Bassersdorf (Switzerland) } Aigle (French for "eagle", ; frp, Âgllo) is a his ...

, Switzerland (1948). Following differences between Boano and the company's

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

-born chief engineer and designer Luigi Segre, Boano left the company in 1953 and ownership passed to Segre in 1954. Under the ownership of Luigi Segre, between 1953 and 1957, Giovanni Savonuzzi became Direttore Tecnico Progettazione e Produzione Carrozzerie e Stile and established Ghia as the most influential proponent of that Italian styling that came to define automobile design trends worldwide. The decade between 1953 and 1963 saw many foreign firms ordering Ghia designs, such as Ford (the

Lincoln Futura The Lincoln Futura is a concept car promoted by Ford's Lincoln brand, designed by Ford's lead stylists Bill Schmidt and John Najjar, and hand-built by Ghia in Turin, Italy — at a cost of $250,000 (equivalent to $ in ). Displayed on ...

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

(the

Karmann Ghia The Volkswagen Karmann Ghia is a sports car marketed in 2+2 coupe (1955–1974) and 2+2 convertible (1957–1974) body styles by Volkswagen. Internally designated the Type 14, the Karmann Ghia combined the chassis and mechanicals of the Type 1 (B ...

), and Volvo. Chrysler and its designer Virgil Exner became a close partner for 15 years, resulting in eighteen

Ghia Specials (1951–53), the K-310, the Chrysler Norseman, the Imperial Crown limousines (whose notable owners included

Jackie Kennedy Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A po ...

and

Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...

), and others. There are even a few Ghia-bodied Ferraris. Ghia also participated in the short-lived

Dual-Ghia Dual-Ghia is a rare, short-lived, automobile make, produced in the United States between 1956 and 1958. The idea for a sporty limited production car came from Eugene Casaroll, who controlled specialized vehicle builder Dual-Motors Corporation ba ...

venture. Production by Ghia was always in very low numbers, giving the company's products even greater exclusivity than those of the other Italian coachbuilders. In June 1953, Pierre Lefaucheux,

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...

's chairman, requested Carrozzeria Ghia assistance with the

Renault Dauphine The Renault Dauphine () is a rear-engined economy car manufactured by Renault in a single body style – a three-box, 4-door sedan – as the successor to the Renault 4CV; more than two million were manufactured during its 1956–1967 p ...

. In 1953, Boano left for Fiat, the factory moved to via Agostino da Montefeltro, and Luigi Segre took over. Ghia then brought in

Pietro Frua Pietro Frua (2 May 1913 - 28 June 1983) was one of the leading Italian coachbuilders and car designers during the 1950s and 1960s. Early years Frua was born in Turin, the centre of coachbuilding in northern Italy. He was the fourth son of Angela, ...

, appointing Frua as head of ''Ghia Design'' (1957–60), designing the

Renault Floride Floride may refer to: ''Floride'' is the French name for Florida and may be used in Francophone references to the state: * Floride (film) * Renault Floride, a sports car * French Florida (french: Floride française, links=no) Other uses: * An ...

. After Segre's death in 1963, Ghia was sold to Ramfis Trujillo in 1966, who in turn sold the company in 1967 to

Alejandro de Tomaso Alejandro de Tomaso (10 July 1928 in Buenos Aires – 21 May 2003 in Modena, Italy) was a racing driver and businessman from Argentina. His name is sometimes seen in an Italianised form as ''Alessandro de Tomaso''. He participated in two Formula O ...

, owner of a rival design house. De Tomaso had difficulty in running Ghia profitably. In 1970, he sold his shares to the

. During this transition period, Ghia had partial involvement in the

De Tomaso Pantera The De Tomaso Pantera is a mid-engine sports car produced by Italian automobile manufacturer De Tomaso from 1971 to 1992. Italian for "Panther", the Pantera was the automaker's most popular model, with over 7,000 manufactured over its twenty-year ...

, a high-performance, mid-engine car using a Ford V8. From then on, the Ghia studios were an integral part of

Ford of Europe Ford of Europe GmbH is a subsidiary company of Ford Motor Company founded in 1967 in Cork, Ireland, with headquarters in Cologne, Germany. History Ford of Europe was founded in 1967 by the merger of Ford of Britain, Ford Germany, and Irish Henr ...

's styling operation - producing mostly concept cars although some production models were styled by the firm - the most notable being the

Ford Fiesta Mk1 The Ford Fiesta Mk1 is the first generation of the Ford Fiesta supermini. Originally introduced in 1976, it was Ford Europe's first multi-national front-wheel-drive automobile, and was available in both 3-door hatchback and panel van derivati ...

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phil ...

, which was penned by Ghia's Tom Tjaarda. Aside from this, the most publicly visible sign of Ford's ownership of Ghia has been its use of the name to denote the luxury trim level of its European models for many years (below).

Ghia L6.4

After the Dual-Ghia project had ended, the more up-to-date Ghia L6.4 appeared in 1961. Fewer Mopar parts were used, but the car’s bespoke nature meant an astronomically high price and when production ended in 1963 only 25 (or 26) cars had been built. The car's Chrysler V8 has SAE, and suspension and transmission parts were also hand-picked from Chrysler's production line. Both the front and the rear seats consist of separate buckets.

The Ghia name

From 1973, the Ghia name became Ford's top trim-level in its mainstream model range. The trend began in Europe and North America (

Mustang II The second-generation Ford Mustang, marketed as the Ford Mustang II, is a two- or three-door, four passenger, front-engine/rear-drive pony car manufactured and marketed by Ford from 1973 until 1978. Introduced in September 1973 for model year ...

Granada Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...

Capri Capri ( , ; ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town of Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has bee ...

Cortina Cortina may refer to: Things * Cortina (tango), a short piece of music played during a tango dance event * Ford Cortina, a medium-sized family car built by Ford of Britain from 1962 to 1982 **Lotus Cortina, a 1963–1968 performance variant on the ...

, Escort, and later

Fiesta ''Fiesta'' (Spanish for "religious feast", "festival", or "party") may refer to: Events *Fiesta San Antonio, a 10-day event held every April in San Antonio, Texas *St. Peter's Fiesta, a five-day festival in Gloucester, Massachusetts *Fiestas d ...

Sierra Sierra (Spanish for "mountain range" and "saw", from Latin '' serra'') may refer to the following: Places Mountains and mountain ranges * Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico * Sierra de las Nieves, a mountain range i ...

, Orion, Scorpio, Mondeo,

Focus Focus, or its plural form foci may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in South Australia Film *''Focus'', a 1962 TV film starring James Whitmore * ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based ...

all had Ghia trim levels), but soon spread worldwide, particularly to the South American (with the Argentinian Ford Falcon and Taunus, the Brazilian Ford Del Rey and versions of Escort, Focus and Mondeo) and Asia Pacific markets (with the Ford Laser, Fairmont, Fairlane and

Telstar Telstar is the name of various communications satellites. The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully relayed through space the f ...

). One notable exception to this convention was the Scorpio model in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, which was essentially a rebadged Granada Mk3, slotting in above the Ghia in the model lineup. This lasted until the major facelift of 1994, when the Granada name was dropped and replaced by Scorpio for all variants, at which point the Ghia model resumed its position at the top of the range. In the British market, however, the practice of using the Ghia name in such a capacity was finally phased out in 2010. The ''Titanium'' name has instead replaced Ghia as the flagship trim level, and is now used globally across all of Ford's markets to denote the top trim level. The British

Ford Fiesta The Ford Fiesta is a supermini car marketed by Ford since 1976 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and has been positioned below the Escort (later the ...

retained the Ghia trim designation for the longest period of any model: 31 years 8 months, uninterrupted, from February 1977 to November 2008. In the rest of Europe, the Ghia trim was discontinued as well. Starting from 2013, the

Vignale Vignale is the luxury car sub-brand of Ford Motor Company used in automobiles sold in Europe.concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

s under the Ford banner.

Ghia cars

* 1929 Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 * 1933

''Balilla'' sports coupé * 1947 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 * 1950 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Supergioiello * 1950 Ferrari 195 Inter coupé * 1951 Ferrari 212 Inter coupé * 1951 Renault Frégate * 1952 Chrysler Special Coupé * 1953 Fiat 8V Supersonic * 1953 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe by Ghia * 1953 Alfa Romeo 1900 Supersonic 'Conrero' * 1954 Alfa Romeo 1900 Coupe * 1954 Dodge Firearrow III Sports Coupé * 1954 Fiat 8V Coupé * 1954

Jaguar XK120 The Jaguar XK120 is a sports car manufactured by Jaguar between 1948 and 1954. It was Jaguar's first sports car since SS 100 production ended in 1939. The XK120 is a highly desirable model. In 2016, Bonhams sold a matching numbers left-hand ...

Supersonic * 1955

Jaguar XK140 The Jaguar XK140 is a sports car manufactured by Jaguar between 1954 and 1957 as the successor to the XK120. Upgrades included more interior space, improved brakes, rack and pinion steering, increased suspension travel, and telescopic shock a ...

Coupé * 1955

* 1955 Volkswagen

* 1956 Aston Martin DB2/4 Supersonic * 1956 Chrysler Norseman * 1956 Chrysler Plainsman Two-door Station Wagon * 1956

* 1957 Dual Ghia Convertible * 1958 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce prototype * 1958

Renault Caravelle The Renault Caravelle is a sports car manufactured and marketed by Renault for model years 1958–1968 in a single generation — as a rear-engine, rear-drive open two/four-seater designed by Pietro Frua of Carrozzeria Ghia, using the floorpa ...

* 1961 Ghia L6.4 * 1961

Volvo P1800 The Volvo P1800 (pronounced ''eighteen-hundred'') is a 2+2, front-engine, rear-drive sports car manufactured and marketed by Volvo Cars between 1961 and 1973. Originally a coupé (1961–1972), it was also offered in a shooting-brake configurati ...

* 1963 Ghia 1500 GT * 1963 Ghia G230S (based on Fiat 2300) * 1963 Chrysler Turbine Car * 1966 Ghia 450 * 2006 Ford Focus Ghia

Notable designers

* Giacinto Ghia * Mario Boano * Luigi Segre *

Giovanni Michelotti Giovanni Michelotti (6 October 1921 – 23 January 1980) was one of the most prolific designers of sports cars in the 20th century. His notable contributions were for Ferrari, Lancia, Maserati and Triumph marques. He was also associated with t ...

* Giovanni Savonuzzi *

Giorgetto Giugiaro Giorgetto Giugiaro (; born 7 August 1938) is an Italian automotive designer. He has worked on supercars and popular everyday vehicles. He was born in Garessio, Cuneo, Piedmont. Giugiaro was named Car Designer of the Century in 1999 and inducted ...

Sergio Sartorelli Sergio Sartorelli (Alessandria, 7 May 1928 – Torino, 28 November 2009) was a noted Italian automotive designer and engineer. During his career at Carrozzeria Ghia, OSI, and finally Fiat, Sartorelli became widely known for his work on the Fia ...

* Tom Tjaarda * Filippo Sapino

Gallery

File:Ghia 450 silver vl TCE.jpg, Ghia 450 - one of 56 built File:Karmann Ghia front.jpg,

Volkswagen Karmann Ghia The Volkswagen Karmann Ghia is a sports car marketed in 2+2 coupe (1955–1974) and 2+2 convertible (1957–1974) body styles by Volkswagen. Internally designated the Type 14, the Karmann Ghia combined the chassis and mechanicals of the Type 1 (B ...

File:Ghia-Fiat G230S.JPG, Ghia G 230 S based on

Fiat 2300 The Fiat 2300 is a six-cylinder executive car which was produced by Italian automotive manufacturer Fiat between 1961 and 1969. The 2300 was made as saloon (styled by Dante Giacosa), estate car and coupé. The 2300 saloon is noteworthy as in 19 ...

File:Fiat 500 Ghia Jolly.jpg, A rare Ghia-designed

Fiat 500 The Fiat 500 ( it, Cinquecento, ) is a rear-engined, four-seat, small city car that was manufactured and marketed by Fiat Automobiles from 1957 until 1975 over a single generation in two-door saloon and two-door station wagon bodystyles. La ...

Jolly File:Plymouth Explorer.jpg, 1954 Plymouth Explorer concept car by Ghia File:1954 Chrysler Ghia Special GS-1 coupe - blue - fvl.jpg, 1954 Chrysler Ghia Special GS-1 coupe

References

External links

Ghia - overview and models
on Coachbuild.com (archived)
An enthusiast site on Ghia history
(archived) {{Authority control Ghia Ford of Europe Design companies established in 1915 Italian companies established in 1915 Italian brands Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1915 Italian companies disestablished in 2001 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 2001