Itala is back. After ninety-two years of silence the name lives again. Not as a museum piece, but as a car brand with ambition. Roberto Fedeli is leading the engineering effort. He used to be Ferrari’s technical director. That’s a heavy pedigree to drag through this new venture.
DR Automobiles is pulling the strings. They have spent two decades slapping Italian badges on Chinese cars. It works. Last year they sold roughly 34,00 of their six current brands across Italy and scattered spots nearby. Now they want more. France is next. Germany too. Big markets. Bigger risks.
The First Offering
The Turin motor show just happened. Itala used it to show their hand. The 35. A 4.4-meter petrol crossover. It looks sleek. It costs from €35,00. But strip the badge off? It is the GAC Trumpchi GS3 underneath.
Refinement is key when your platform has a different passport.
Fedeli touched the suspension. Other Italians did the interior—red leather. Alcantara. Italdesign tweaked the outside. Make it pretty. Make it feel native. Does it matter where it was born if the driving dynamics scream Modena?
Osca is in the shop next door. The revived sibling brand shares showroom space with Itala. The Maserati brothers started Osca in 1947. They folded in 1967 after making racing machines. No plans yet for a modern Osca. Or rather, rumors are flying. Late last year the Italian press whispered about a proper sports car. Lotus-sourced 2.0-liter engine. Probably the AMG four-pot found in the Emira. Wait and see.
Building It Here
DR calls this the Historic Italian Brands plan. That is marketing speak for expanding their Macchia d’Isernia plant. They are already putting knock-down Chinese kits together there. Now they are adding two new production facilities. A €50 million investment. Fifty new local jobs should follow.
They plan fifty Itala-Osca dealers eventually. The first one opens in Turin. Itala’s original home. Poetry.
Will it sell? Probably. The market is shifting. Buyers care about design. Heritage is a currency these days. But underneath the leather and the badge lies a very pragmatic, very Asian chassis.
