CarBrandLogos archive · Venturi · 1991

VenturiAtlantique

France's answer to Modena, hand-built in a workshop near Nantes.

Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Mcassonnet assumed (based on copyright clai · CC BY-SA 2.5

The story

A defining chapter in Venturi history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Venturi Atlantique, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Venturi 300 Atlantique Bi-Turbo 3.4 front

Origins

Venturi began in 1984 as MVS, founded by two engineers who had left Heuliez — Claude Poiraud and Gérard Godfroy — with the aim of building the mid-engined sports car French industry had abandoned after the Alpine A310 went upmarket. The Atlantique, from 1991, was the mature version of that idea.

Venturi 300 Atlantique Bi-Turbo 3.4 front · No machine-readable author provided. Mcassonnet assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 2.5

Design and engineering

The construction was pragmatic: a steel backbone chassis with a composite body bonded to it, and the Renault-Peugeot-Volvo V6 mounted amidships, usually turbocharged, later in twin-turbo form. Assembly was by hand at Couëron, near Nantes, in numbers small enough that each car was effectively made to order. The result was a genuine French GT of the period, with a specification that put it against the Porsche 911 and a price that put it against rather more.

Venturi 300 GTR · AnonymousUnknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0

In production

Venturi took the cars racing to make the point, running a one-make series for the Trophy versions in the early 1990s and entering Le Mans. Neither the racing nor the road cars generated the volume the business needed, and the company failed repeatedly through the decade before car production stopped in 2000.

1998 Venturi Atlantique 300 BS O24 · MrWalkr · CC BY-SA 4.0

Legacy

What survived was the name. Gildo Pallanca Pastor bought it and turned Venturi into an electric-vehicle concern, which has since taken land-speed records at Bonneville and competed in Formula E — a stranger afterlife than most defunct sports car makers get.

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

1991–2000

Engine

2849&nbsp

Designer

Claude Poiraud

Body

2-door coupe

Technical specification

The Atlantique, in detail.

Production: 1991-2000
Class: Sports car
Body style: 2-door coupe
Layout: mid-engine, rear-wheel drive
Engine: 2849 cc V6 PRV engine; PRV Z7W Turbocharger; turbo V6 engine; V6 ; 2946 cc V6 ESL engine; ESL L7X Twin-turbo; biturbo V6 ; 2975 cc V6 PRV engine; PRV Z7X V6 ; 2975 cc V6 PRV engine; PRV Z7X turbo V6
Transmission: 5-speed manual transmission
Designer: Claude Poiraud, Gérard Godfroy
Assembly: Couëron, Pays de la Loire, France
Manufacturer: Venturi Automobiles