Flashy Wheels

An Italian look for Cadillac

In an effort to broaden its market and appeal to younger buyers, Cadillac launched the subcompact Cimarron in 1981. More like a Chevrolet than a Cadillac, the $13,000 vehicle has failed to excite luxury-car buyers. Now General Motors is turning to a leading Italian car stylist in hopes of developing a sporty new Cadillac that may fit in better with the division's sumptuous line-up of Fleetwoods, Coupe DeVilles and Eldorados (sticker prices: up to $35,000). Cadillac has asked Sergio Pininfarina, 57, to design a two-seat convertible, named the Callisto after one of Jupiter's moons. The car will debut in 1986.

Pininfarina's styling has not been seen in an American auto since he designed the Ambassador and Healey models for the Nash Motor Co. in the early 1950s. His work is far more widely known to car buyers in Europe, where his firm regularly creates models for Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Peugeot. The Rolls-Royce Camargue (list price: $150,600) was designed by Pininfarina, who has also styled every Ferrari built since 1952. His 1946 Cisitalia coupe is the only car on permanent display in New York City's Museum of Modern Art. It was chosen by the museum in 1951 as "the best expression of beauty and trimness of design in the automobile field."

The five-year Cadillac contract calls for Pininfarina to design and assemble 8,000 Callisto bodies a year at his factory outside Turin. The $600 million agreement, which will more than double the Pininfarina firm's annual sales (1983: $80.3 million), will create some unusual logistical problems. After completion, the bodies will be shipped 4,500 miles to Detroit, where they will be married to the chassis. Sea voyages were deemed too dangerous for the handcrafted metalwork and delicate lacquer finish, so the bodies will be flown to the U.S. by jumbo jet. Pininfarina will send a planeload every other day once production gets under way, but the added cost of the journey will hardly be noticed by the new car's prospective buyers. The Callisto's price is expected to be $50,000.