Bertone Runabout returns as £400,000 Exige-based specia

A concept that refused to stay buried

More than 50 years after its debut as a show car, the Bertone Runabout has finally entered production. It does so not as a clean-sheet revival, but as a tightly limited reinterpretation built around existing Lotus hardware.

Just 25 examples will be made, each priced at £400,000.

The original Runabout appeared in 1969, designed by Marcello Gandini as an exercise in provocation rather than usability. Roofless and doorless, it paired radical wedge styling with modest Autobianchi mechanicals and went on to influence the later Fiat X1/9.

Proven foundations, not a blank sheet

Rather than attempting a bespoke platform, Bertone has opted for certainty. The modern Runabout is built on a new Lotus Exige chassis, complete with its own VIN, and reworked rather than reinvented.

The choice brings proven dynamics and avoids the risks of bespoke engineering, but it also defines the Runabout’s limits. Exactly where those limits sit will depend on how much tolerance buyers have for familiarity at this price point.

Power comes from Lotus’s Toyota-derived, supercharged 3.5-litre V6, uprated to 469bhp and 361lb ft. With extensive lightening measures and carbonfibre body panels, kerb weight stands at 1180kg, delivering a claimed 397bhp per tonne.

Performance figures include 0-62mph in 4.1sec and a top speed of 168mph.

None of this is especially surprising.

The six-speed manual gearbox and rear-wheel-drive layout mirror the Exige’s mechanical philosophy. In engineering terms, this is evolution, not novelty.

Design and rarity do the heavy lifting

Where Bertone draws distinction is in presentation. The Runabout places heavy emphasis on customisation, with buyers offered bespoke luggage, Bertone-branded helmets and extensive finish options. The firm expects no two of the 25 cars to be configured alike.

Low production volume also allows the car to sidestep conventional homologation rules. The result is an extremely low and narrow nose, pop-up headlights and pencil-thin daytime running lights. At the rear, the body ends in a coda tronca cut tail, with four central apertures housing twin exhaust outlets.

Aerodynamic work includes an S-duct channel through the nose, while buyers seeking greater protection can specify a targa configuration with a full windscreen and removable hard top.

Value defined by perspective

As a collector piece, it leans heavily on Bertone’s heritage and Gandini’s legacy, which will matter a great deal to a very small group of buyers and not at all to anyone else.

The result is a car that trades originality of engineering for certainty of execution. Whether that feels like pragmatism or compromise probably depends on how closely you’re looking, and how much of the Exige you can still see underneath.