The History of Venturi: From French GT Cars to Electric Pioneers

Venturi at a glance

The founders and the first "Ventury" (1984–1987)

Claude Poiraud and Gérard Godfroy had worked at the coachbuilder Heuliez. They wanted to build a French grand tourer that could stand beside Porsche and Ferrari. Their first car was shown in 1984, still spelt "Ventury" and powered by a Volkswagen Golf GTI engine. In 1985 it appeared with the 200 PS turbo engine of the Peugeot 505. In September of that year the founders registered the company Manufacture de Voitures de Sport (MVS), with Hervé Boulan as chairman.

The car reached its final form at the 1986 Paris Motor Show, now with a mid-mounted PRV V6 developed jointly by Peugeot, Renault and Volvo. Series production began in 1987, when five cars were built. Composite body panels sat over a steel chassis, and workers assembled every car largely by hand. Peugeot's role in that engine is part of Peugeot's history.

The PRV years: coupés, roadsters and the Atlantique (1987–1996)

From 1987 to the mid-1990s Venturi built mid-engined coupés and open cars on the same basic layout. The turbocharged PRV V6 and Renault gearboxes gave between 147 kW (200 PS) and 191 kW (260 PS). The Coupé 260 and the Transcup, a convertible with a removable roof panel, were produced from 1989 to 1996. Independent suspension on all four wheels and a low centre of gravity gave the cars a reputation for balanced handling.

In 1989, after a capital increase, the businessman Didier Primat became the main shareholder and the name MVS was dropped in favour of Venturi. The company moved into a new 5,500 m² factory at Couëron, near Nantes, in December 1990. The Atlantique name, first used on the 260 Atlantique, carried over to the next generation. Venturi introduced the Atlantique 300 in 1994 and built it from 1996 to 1998 with a 24-valve 3.0-litre turbo V6; a biturbo version followed in 1998.

Racing: the 400 Trophy, Le Mans and Formula One

Racing gave the small company its widest audience. In 1992 Venturi launched the 400 Trophy, a one-make series for gentleman drivers; around 72–73 racing cars were built. The road-going 400 GT grew out of it, and Venturi made only 15 in two series. Venturi quoted 0–100 km/h in 4.7 seconds and a top speed of about 291 km/h for the 400 GT, and fitted it with carbon brake discs, a rarity on a road car at the time.

The brand also appeared at Le Mans. In 1993 the Venturi Jacadi team entered cars driven by, among others, the television presenter Christophe Dechavanne and the former Formula One driver Jacques Laffite, and in 1995 Paul Belmondo raced a 600 SLM. In 1992 the Larrousse Formula One car carried the Venturi name as part of a partnership with the team.

Ownership changes and bankruptcy (1995–2000)

Racing and small-scale production did not pay. In October 1995 a commercial court placed Venturi in receivership, and in February 1996 it went into liquidation. Nakarin Benz, a Thai luxury-car dealer group, then bought the business and named Manfred Buchard chief executive. Under the new owner the Atlantique 300 went into production in 1996 and became the main model.

In 1998 an Australian investor took over most of the shares, but the promised money never arrived. In 2000, after almost 16 years in business, Venturi went bankrupt. Between 1992 and 1999 the factory had built 264 cars.

The Monaco era: Fétish and the electric turn (2000–2010)

In 2000 the Monegasque businessman Gildo Pallanca Pastor bought the company, moved its seat to Monaco and decided to build only electric vehicles. The first result was the Venturi Fétish, shown in 2002 as a concept and sold from November 2004 as one of the first electric sports cars. It had a 180 kW (245 PS) motor, a 54 kWh lithium-polymer battery and a claimed range of 340 km; only 25 were built, and a 2011 update raised power to 220 kW (299 PS).

Concepts followed: the solar-assisted Eclectic and Astrolab, the Volage and the America, shown at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. Venturi also converted Citroën Berlingo vans to electric drive and drove one 14,900 km from Shanghai to Paris in 2010. In 2009 it bought Voxan, a French motorcycle maker that later built electric record motorcycles.

Electric land-speed records with Ohio State University

Venturi and the Center for Automotive Research of Ohio State University developed a series of streamliners, the Venturi Buckeye Bullet (VBB):

These records gave the small Monaco company global recognition far beyond its sales. For comparison, the fastest road cars in the 1cars fastest-cars ranking are still slower than the VBB-3.

Formula E and extreme-environment vehicles

In 2014 Venturi became the first team to commit to the new FIA Formula E championship and raced from its first season. It became an approved manufacturer in 2015, and Edoardo Mortara gave the team its first win at the 2019 Hong Kong ePrix. In December 2020 a US investor group led by Scott Swid and José María Aznar Botella bought the team, with Susie Wolff staying on as team principal. From the 2023 season it raced as Maserati MSG Racing.

Venturi also built vehicles for places where cars rarely go. Its electric Antarctica crawler, tested in Canada at temperatures down to −30 °C in 2019, was delivered to Belgium's Princess Elisabeth station in Antarctica in December 2021. Since 2022 Venturi has worked with Astrolab, a US start-up, on lunar mobility. Astrolab's FLEX rover uses Venturi batteries and wheels, and in April 2024 NASA chose Astrolab for Artemis lunar terrain vehicle studies.

Key Venturi models

Sources disagree on the outputs of the later petrol cars, so only the engine type is given for them. Other electric sports cars, old and new, are collected in the 1cars electric-car section.

What Venturi means today

For collectors, a petrol Venturi is one of the rarest French sports cars. A 260 Atlantique or an Atlantique 300 is the best choice for buyers who want a usable classic, while the 400 GT is a museum-grade rarity. Parts for the PRV engine and Renault gearbox are still available, but body panels and trim are scarce, so a complete car with documented history is worth paying extra for.

As a company, Venturi is best seen as an electric-technology specialist rather than a carmaker. Like Alpine and Bugatti, it shows how a small French firm can build a name on performance, but its second life is in records, racing and robotics. All its models in our database are in the Venturi catalogue.