The Bertone Runabout returns after 57 years, this time with a supercharged V6 and 475 hp
The original Runabout never had an engine. This one has a supercharged V6 and a six-speed manual
Bertone has confirmed a production version of the Runabout, the wedge-shaped concept Marcello Gandini designed for Autobianchi back in 1969, and it is nothing like a static tribute. The new car, badged "Nero Aureo," carries a supercharged V6 producing 475 hp through a six-speed manual gearbox, built on a Lotus-derived aluminum chassis. Only 25 will be made, and Bertone says none of them will be identical to each other.
What is happening
The Runabout was one of Gandini's formative wedge designs, a show car rather than anything meant to reach a road. More than five decades later, Bertone is putting it into limited production with a running gate instead of a museum plinth, keeping the retractable headlights and low, mid-rear-engined silhouette that made the original a design-history footnote worth revisiting.
The engineering underneath the shape
A supercharged V6 sits behind the cabin, sending 475 hp through a six-speed manual, which is a notably analogue choice for a car built in 2026. The aluminum chassis is described as Lotus-derived, suggesting Bertone leaned on outside engineering rather than building a bespoke platform from nothing, a sensible move for a run this small.
It also lines up with a wider trend among small coachbuilders returning to manual gearboxes for exactly these kinds of limited runs.
Why no two cars will look the same
Each of the 25 commissions goes through Bertone Centro Stile's bespoke configuration process, and "Nero Aureo" is presented as one starting point rather than a fixed spec: a black-and-dark-green body with champagne-gold tracing the beltline and wheels, paired with a cabin mixing deep green, cognac leather, ivory, and exposed carbon fibre. Buyers are expected to push the configuration further from there, which is the point of paying for a Centro Stile commission instead of a catalogue car.
The price
Bertone lists the Runabout at 390,000 euro before VAT. That sits in familiar territory for a low-volume, hand-finished revival with a bespoke interior process attached, and the final figure per car will move once a buyer's specific commission is priced in.
What it means for Belgian and Dutch buyers
Twenty-five cars worldwide means this will not be a showroom proposition in the Benelux, or anywhere else. Realistically, the closest most Belgian and Dutch enthusiasts get to a Nero Aureo is a concours lawn or a Centro Stile trunk show, not a local dealer allocation, and Bertone has not indicated any market-specific distribution plans so far.
AutoNext Take
Reviving a design study by actually giving it an engine and a manual gearbox is a more honest way to celebrate it than another static tribute build would have been, even if calling 25 cosmetically distinct commissions a single model is closer to a bespoke coachbuilding programme wearing one name. Still, a supercharged, manual, mid-engined thing wearing a name most people have never heard of is a more interesting way to spend 390,000 euro than most of what passes for a limited edition. Someone should let Gandini's original sketch have the last laugh.
