Venturi is a Monaco-based automotive manufacturer. Founded in 1984 by French engineers Claude Poiraud and Gérard Godfroy as MVS (Manufacture de Voitures de Sport). Venturi operated for nearly sixteen years, before declaring bankruptcy in 2000. The same year, Monegasque Gildo Pallanca Pastor purchased Venturi, and decided to focus on electric-powered motors.
Overview The first team to commit to the Formula E World Championship, Venturi competed under the name of ROKiT Venturi Racing with its drivers Edoardo Mortara and Lucas di Grassi during its last season, in 2022. In April 2022, Venturi announced that it would be applying its knowledge to the challenges of space. The brand entered into strategic partnerships with Venturi Lab (Switzerland) and Venturi Astrolab (United States) in order to be a candidate for the development of mobility technologies for the Moon. On 31 March 2023, the Venturi Group announced that its American strategic partner Venturi Astrolab had signed an agreement with Elon Musk's company SpaceX to send the FLEX rover to the Moon in 2026. On 19 June 2023, at the Salon international de l'aéronautique et de l'espace de Paris-Le Bourget, Venturi presented the lunar wheel designed by Venturi Lab for the FLEX rover. It is made up of 192 cables and is presented as being hyper-deformable, even at the very low temperatures of the Moon's South Pole. On 3 April 2024, Venturi Group announces that the American company Venturi Astrolab, Inc. (Astrolab), a strategic partner of Venturi Group, has awarded a NASA contract to support the development of Artemis campaign's lunar terrain vehicle. Its rover, known as FLEX, is equipped with batteries and wheels developed by Gildo Pastor's teams in Monaco and Switzerland.
History
From 1984 to 2000
The first Venturi came out in 1984, created by Claude Poiraud and Gérard Godfroy, two former engineers at Heuliez. The goal was to present the only "Grand Tourisme" French car capable of competing with the English Aston Martin, the Italian Ferrari, and the German Porsche. The first car shown had a Volkswagen Golf GTi engine and the name was originally spelled "Ventury", with a "y" at the end. In 1985, the car was shown with a 200 PS (147 kW) Peugeot 505 Turbo engine, but by the 1986 Paris Motor Show it had reached its definitive form with the PRV V6 engine. Production began in 1987, with five cars built in the first year with production increasing in the subsequent years. The headquarters of the company was located in Couëron, Pays de Loire, where almost 750 cars were produced in the forthcoming 20 years. From 1987 to the mid-1990s, they built mid-engined coupés and roadsters with turbocharged PRV engines and Renault gearboxes. Engine power ranged from 200 to 260 PS (147 to 191 kW) for the then offered MVS Venturi Coupé and Transcup series. The naturally aspirated Venturi 160 used the catalyzed 2849 cc version of the PRV V6; this was meant to be sold in Japan and was therefore also available with an automatic transmission. There was also the 185 PS (136 kW) Venturi 180, mainly developed for Italy, which used the turbocharged 1995-cc inline-four Douvrin engine from the Renault 21 Turbo. Venturi was also briefly involved with the Larrousse Formula One team. The team's 1992 car, which bore the Venturi name, was designed and built by Venturi Larousse UK, a British company formerly known as Fomet 1, which had previously designed the 1991 Fondmetal Formula One cars.
The Venturi 400 GT remains one of the highest performing French cars ever produced, and was the first car in the world to have standard carbon brakes. True to that claim, the Atlantique 400 GT with a 2,975 cc (3.0 L; 181.5 cu in) DOHC 4 valves per cylinder twin-turbo V6 engine rated at 300 kW (408 PS; 402 hp) at 6000 rpm and 520 N⋅m (384 lb⋅ft) at 4500 rpm of torque with a compression ratio of 7.3:1, delivered excellent performance to put it on par with Ferraris of the early 90s. The 400 GT could hit 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.7 seconds and 291 km/h (181 mph) top speed, while the Atlantique 300 Biturbo with a 310 PS (306 bhp; 228 kW) V6 could accelerate from 0-100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.7 seconds and could reach a top speed of 275 km/h (171 mph).
A limited-edition 400 GTR was built to satisfy the homologation requirements to compete in 24 Hours of Le Mans. High-level competition has also brought fame to the brand. Stéphane Ratel, who would later found the FIA GT Championship, was at the origin of the Venturi Gentlemen Drivers Trophy. A total of 72 cars were manufactured and the customers were offered the possibility of converting the cars to road specification at the end of the season. These cars were driven by a total of 75 drivers. Venturi also won fame through its brilliant performances in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, particularly in 1993 with Christophe Dechavanne and Jacques Laffite with the Venturi Jacadi team, and in 1995 with Paul Belmondo racing on the 600 SLM. However, it was in the BPR Global GT Series races that Venturi established its pedigree defeating Porsche and Ferrari on several occasions. In 1994 in Dijon-Prenois, with Ferté and Neugarten on the 600 LM Jacadi, at the 1000 km of Paris with Henri Pescarolo and Jean-Claude Basso on the 600 LM, and finally at the 4 Hours Spa race, once again with Michel Ferté and Michel Neugarten.
From 2000 to the present day
In 2000, Gildo Pallanca Pastor bought Venturi and decided to focus on electric-powered vehicles. This led to the creation of the Fétish model, and involvement in a series of technology demonstration 'missions'. In December 2009, Venturi announced its acquisition of French motorcycle manufacturer Voxan, allowing the firm to enter the motorcycle market.
Mission 01: Jamais contente
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