Carrozzeria Ghia SpA (established 1916 in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, 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 ...

) is an Italian

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

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 Giacinto Ghia (18 September 1887 – 21 February 1944) was an Italian automobile coachbuilder and founder of Carrozzeria Ghia. Biography Ghia was a test driver at Rapid and Diatto, prior to being seriously injured in 1915 — the same year he ...

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 automobi ...

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 automoti ...

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

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 th ...

, and

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, 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 ...

History

Ghia initially made lightweight

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

-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 World ...

(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 four ...

''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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

(1943). After Ghia's death (1944), the company was sold to

Mario Boano Felice Mario Boano (Turin 1903 –– Turin 8 May 1989) was an Italian automobile designer and coachbuilder. He worked for Stabilimenti Farina in Turin before joining Pinin Farina in 1930. In 1944 (with Giorgio Alberti), Boano bought the Carrozz ...

and Giorgio Alberti. The

Ghia-Aigle Carrosserie Ghia S.A., Aigle (established 1948 in Aigle, Switzerland, closed 1988) was a Swiss automobile design and manufacturing company, commonly referred to as Ghia-Aigle. Established by P. P. Filippi of Torino, the company originally oper ...

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 language, French for "eagle", ; frp, ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

(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 Luigi "Gigi" Segre (8 November 1919 – 28 February 1963) was an Italian automotive designer noted for his business and engineering acumen during his stewardship and ownership of Carrozzeria Ghia (1953–63), one of an Italy's premier automobile d ...

, 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 Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

(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 the a ...

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 ( ...

), and Volvo. Chrysler and its designer

Virgil Exner Virgil Max "Ex" Exner Sr. (September 24, 1909 – December 22, 1973) was an automobile designer for several American automobile companies, most notably Chrysler and Studebaker. Exner is widely known for the "Forward Look" he created for the ...

became a close partner for 15 years, resulting in eighteen

Ghia Specials (1951–53), the K-310, the

Chrysler Norseman The Chrysler Norseman was a four-seat fastback coupe built in 1956 as a concept car. Although designed by Chrysler's stylists, actual construction was contracted out to the Italian coach-building firm of Carrozzeria Ghia. The concept car was los ...

, 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 pop ...

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

s. 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 Pierre-André Lefaucheux (30 June 1898 – 11 February 1955) was a leading French industrialist and recipient of the Order of Liberation, awarded to heroes of France's Liberation during World War II. As the first chairman of Renault during the c ...

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 manufactured ...

's chairman, requested Carrozzeria Ghia assistance with the

Renault Dauphine The Renault Dauphine () is a rear-engine design, rear-engined economy car manufactured by Renault in a single body style – a Three-box styling, three-box, 4-door sedan (car), sedan – as the successor to the Renault 4CV; more than two ...

. 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 Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Martínez (5 June 1929 – 27 December 1969), better known as Ramfis Trujillo Martínez, was the adopted son of Rafael Trujillo, Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic, after whose 1961 assassin ...

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 ...

, 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 (city), Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with headquarters in Cologne, Germany. History Ford of Europe was founded in 1967 by the merger of Ford of Bri ...

's styling operation - producing mostly concept cars although some production models were styled by the firm - the most notable being the Ford Fiesta Mk1 in

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 Phila ...

, which was penned by Ghia's

Tom Tjaarda Tom Tjaarda (born Stevens Thompson Tjaarda van Starkenburg; July 23, 1934 – June 2, 2017) was an American automobile designer noted for his work on a broad range of automobiles — estimated at over eighty — from exotic sports cars inc ...

. 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,

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

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 been ...

, Cortina, Escort, and later Fiesta, Sierra, Orion, Scorpio,

Mondeo The Ford Mondeo is a large family car manufactured by Ford since 1993. The first Ford model declared as a "world car", the Mondeo was intended to consolidate several Ford model lines worldwide (the European Sierra, the Telstar in Asia and Austr ...

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 The Ford Del Rey is a midsized car produced by Ford do Brasil in Brazil from 1981 to 1991. It was a successor to the popular Ford Corcel II. Like the Corcel II, the Del Rey was designed exclusively for Brazil, but was sold in Chile, Venezuel ...

and versions of Escort, Focus and Mondeo) and Asia Pacific markets (with the

Ford Laser The Ford Laser is a compact car, originally a subcompact car in the first three generations, which was sold by Ford in Asia, Oceania, and parts of South America and Africa. It has generally been available as a sedan or hatchback, although conve ...

, 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 fir ...

). 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 continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, 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 The Renault Frégate () is an executive saloon car produced by the French automaker Renault between 1951 and 1960. Estate variants, the Renault Domaine and the Renault Manoir, were introduced in 1956 and 1958 respectively. Origins The Frégate w ...

* 1952 Chrysler Special Coupé * 1953

Fiat 8V The Fiat 8V (or "Otto Vu") is a V8-engined sports car produced by the Italian car manufacturer Fiat from 1952 to 1954. The car was introduced at the 1952 Geneva Motor Show. The Fiat 8V got its name because at the time of its making, Fiat believed ...

Supersonic * 1953 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe by Ghia * 1953

Alfa Romeo 1900 The Alfa Romeo 1900 is an automobile produced by Italian car manufacturer Alfa Romeo from 1950 until 1959. Designed by Orazio Satta, it was an important development for Alfa Romeo as the marque's first car built entirely on a production line and f ...

Supersonic 'Conrero' * 1954 Alfa Romeo 1900 Coupe * 1954 Dodge Firearrow III Sports Coupé * 1954

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-d ...

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 The Aston Martin DB2/4 is a grand tourer produced by Aston Martin from 1953 until 1957. It was available as a 2+2 hatchback saloon, drophead coupé (DHC) and 2-seat fixed-head coupé. A small number of Bertone bodied spiders were commissioned ...

Supersonic * 1956

* 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 floorpan ...

* 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 The Chrysler Turbine Car is an experimental two-door hardtop coupe powered by a turbine engine and manufactured by Chrysler from 1963–1964. The bodywork was constructed by Italian design studio Carrozzeria Ghia and Chrysler completed the fina ...

* 1966 Ghia 450 * 2006 Ford Focus Ghia

Notable designers

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 ...

Giovanni Savonuzzi Giovanni Savonuzzi (Ferrara 28 January 1911 – Ferrara 18 February 1988) was an Italian automobile designer. Savonuzzi received a degree in mechanical engineering from Politecnico di Torino in 1939 and worked for Fiat Aviazione and taught in a ...

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 F ...

* 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 ( ...

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 1966 ...

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. Launch ...

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 Carrozzeria Ghia SpA (established 1916 in Turin) is an Italian automobile design and coachbuilding firm, established by Giacinto Ghia and Gariglio as "Carrozzeria Ghia & Gariglio". The headquarters are located at Corso Guglielmo Marconi, 4, Turin ...

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