Iso models

Iso was an Italian company led by the engineer Renzo Rivolta. In 1939 he bought Isothermos, a maker of electric heaters and refrigerators in Bolzaneto near Genoa, and in 1942 he moved it to Bresso, near Milan.

In 1953 Iso launched the Isetta, an egg-shaped microcar. It sold poorly in Italy, so Rivolta licensed it abroad, including to BMW, which built about 160,000 of them. Iso then moved upmarket with fast grand touring cars that combined Italian bodies with American V8 engines: the Bertone-styled Rivolta IR 300 coupé of 1962, the Iso Grifo of 1965, the four-door Fidia of 1968 and the Lele of 1969. They used Chevrolet V8s and later Ford engines; Giotto Bizzarrini worked for Iso from 1963 on the A3 racing car. Rising costs, competition and the 1973 oil crisis strained the company, and car production ended on 31 December 1974. The brand returned as ISO Rivolta in 2017. See also BMW.