Innocenti, the history of the Lambrate brand

On 27 February, the Gepi-De Tomaso plan was approved, which envisaged a cost of around 80 to 100 billion lire, largely covered by public funds. Gepi became the majority shareholder of Nuova Innocenti, this was the new company name, while De Tomaso took over as managing director. The final plan envisaged the employment of 2,500 workers in the production of 40,000 Minis a year, the gradual addition of motorbike production and, after three years, the replacement of the Mini with a small commercial vehicle. When the operation is complete, the Lambrate plant is expected to employ 4000 people.

In 1981 the contract that bound Innocenti to Leyland for the supply of engines expired. De Tomaso was convinced that the traditional 4-cylinder engines were destined to make way for 2-cylinder and 3-cylinder engines for small and medium displacements respectively. The increase in unit displacement, combined with a reduction in the number of cylinders, would lead to lower fuel consumption and maintenance costs. Unable to involve Leyland in a project to develop and produce a new 3-cylinder engine, De Tomaso took the opportunity of the expiry of the contract to enter into an agreement with Japan's Daihatsu to purchase 993 cc 3-cylinder engines and 5-speed gearboxes, to be fitted to the Mini from 1982. In the meantime, sales of the Mini were falling, and there was talk of 14,000 unsold cars in the backyards of Lambrate: a clear indication that the car was now off the market. The company decided to halve production by laying off its 2,400 workers.

That same year, production of a new Maserati model began at Lambrate: the Biturbo. In the following years, Nuova Innocenti suffered heavy losses, so much so that the company had to be recapitalised, which took place in August 1984, returning the majority shareholding to Gepi but leaving the management to De Tomaso. In June 1985, after months of negotiations and under strong pressure from Gepi, the merger between Nuova Innocenti and Maserati was finalised, with the declared aim of uniting the two companies, even juridically, to reflect the company integration that had already taken place.

The Officine Alfieri Maserati therefore incorporates Nuova Innocenti, whose name will remain only as a brand name. Gepi holds the majority of the company, minority shareholders are DeTomaso and Chrysler, which had acquired a shareholding in Maserati with a view to an agreement to produce a car at Lambrate. Between the end of 1989 and the beginning of 1990, De Tomaso liquidated Gepi and Maserati spa was established, a company that took control of the Lambrate plants. Maserati spa is 51% controlled by De Tomaso and 49% by Fiat, which has the right of first refusal on the majority share. The partnership provides, among other things, for the assembly of the Panda at Lambrate.

At the same time, Fiat acquired 51 per cent of Innocenti Milano spa, the sales company for Innocenti cars. In 1992 a new car joined the Mini now called the small 500 and small 990 in the Innocenti range: the Koral. This was a car derived from the Fiat 127 and produced in the Zastava factories in Yugoslavia. In the meantime, the period from 1989 to 1993 saw a reduction in the workforce at the Lambrate plant until the factory closed.

At 5.30 p.m. on 31 March 1993, the approximately 1,000 workers walked out of the Viale Rubattino plant for the last time. The reconversion project includes the construction of a shopping centre. A couple of months later Fiat took over the majority shareholding in Maserati still in the hands of DeTomaso. The Innocenti brand would be used in the following years to market some Fiat cars produced abroad on the Italian market, until 1997. The Elba and the Mille, respectively the family version of the Duna and the Uno produced in Brazil, and the Mille Clip the Uno produced in Poland, were marketed under the Innocenti brand. It also appeared on the front of the Porter 6, the 6-seater minivan produced by Piaggio.

Today, there are almost no traces left of the Nuova Innocenti Maserati factories, razed to the ground to make way for a residential district and commercial activities. The buildings that have survived and been reborn to new life are the office building of the Innocenti Commerciale in Via Pitteri, converted to a health care residence for the elderly, and the Centro Studi, currently used as a warehouse. The only building in the production area that has come down to us is the 'Palazzo di Cristallo', the first of the buildings parallel to the ring road viaduct, which housed the production lines of the A40 in 1960. On the other hand, the warehouses on which the pyziometric tower stands are all still standing but in a state of complete abandonment. The entire ex-INSSE area is the subject of a redevelopment project that envisages only the renovation of the Crystal Palace and the creation of a park area of over 300,000 square metres. The unused Innocenti brand remains the property of Fiat Auto Spa.