Innocenti — Milan's Lambretta and Mini maker, 1933 to 1997

Innocenti at a glance

Ferdinando Innocenti and the steel tubes

Ferdinando Innocenti was born on 1 September 1891 in Pescia and grew up in Grosseto, working in his father's ironmongery. In 1923 Innocenti moved to Rome with a brother, where the two sold metal pipes and scaffolding to a fast-growing building trade. In 1931 the business opened a large factory in Rome, and in 1933 Innocenti founded the company in Lambrate, on the eastern outskirts of Milan.

The Lambretta years

After the Second World War the factories were converted to peacetime work, and in 1947 Innocenti launched a low-cost motor scooter. The Lambretta took its name from Lambrate, the Milan district named after the river Lambro. Production of the Model A began in 1947, a year after Piaggio started its Vespa.

The scooter was also built under licence in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, India and Spain. In Milan, production ended in 1971 and the company closed the scooter works in 1972. That year the Indian government bought the machinery of the Milan factory and created Scooters India Limited, which built about 35,000 scooters in its best year, 1980–81.

Cars from BMC: A40, Spider, IM3 and Mini

In 1958 Ferdinando's son Luigi became vice-president and led the move into cars. Innocenti chose to build British BMC designs under licence:

The cars were assembled to a high standard in Milan, and by 1966 BMC-based Innocentis held three per cent of the Italian market. Innocenti also tried something more ambitious: in 1963 it built the 186 GT prototype with a 1.8-litre Ferrari V6, which never reached production.

Ferdinando Innocenti died in Varese on 21 June 1966, and Luigi took over. Production grew from 35,967 cars in 1966 to 62,834 in 1972. Later Mini versions included a Cooper 1300.

British Leyland and the Bertone Mini

In 1972 British Leyland (BLMC) bought the company's land, buildings and equipment for about £3 million (1972) and took control. The Regent, based on the Austin Allegro, appeared in 1974. The more important car was the Innocenti Mini 90L and 120L, shown at the Turin show in 1974. It kept the Mini's mechanicals under a new three-door hatchback body styled by Bertone; the infobox of the Mini article credits the design to Marcello Gandini.

The British parent soon ran into its own crisis and was nationalised, and Innocenti output almost halved in 1975, to 33,061. The last CKD-assembled original Minis were built in early 1975.

De Tomaso, Daihatsu and Fiat

In February 1976 the company passed to the Argentine-born industrialist Alejandro de Tomaso, with the Italian state holding company GEPI as a partner. Later that year GEPI and De Tomaso combined their 95 per cent into one holding. De Tomaso, who had founded his own car company in 1959, also controlled Maserati from 1975.

The new owner added a sporty model. The Mini De Tomaso was shown at the 1976 Turin show and built from early 1977, with 53 kW (72 PS) at first and 55 kW (75 PS) from 1978. As the British engines aged, Innocenti turned to Japan. A deal with Daihatsu in 1982 brought the 993 cc three-cylinder of the Daihatsu Charade, used in all cars from 1983. A turbocharged Mini De Tomaso Turbo with 53 kW (72 PS) went on sale in early 1984, and a 1.0-litre diesel had 27 kW (37 PS).

Sales kept falling, from 39,770 in 1980 to 10,100 in 1989. In 1990 Fiat took over, and in 1993 Innocenti and Maserati were formally sold to Fiat. From 1991 the Innocenti name went on imported cars: the Koral (a Yugo), the Elba (a Brazilian Fiat), and the Mille and Mille Clip versions of the Fiat Uno. Innocenti's own production ended early in 1993. In February 1996 Fiat announced that sales of the brand would stop at the end of June 1997.

The Lambretta name had a separate future: it was relaunched at the EICMA show in Milan in November 2017.

The Innocenti models on 1cars are listed in the Innocenti catalogue, and the best-known car has its own page on the Innocenti Mini, from Bertone 90 to 120. The British original is covered in the original Mini cars, the design house in the history of Bertone, and De Tomaso's other famous brand in the history of Maserati.

Innocenti timeline

Landmark Innocenti models

Photo gallery