Vignale

Carrozzeria Vignale was a Turin coachbuilder founded in 1948 by Alfredo Vignale. It worked closely with Giovanni Michelotti, built the early Jensen Interceptor and the Triumph Italia, and its name now survives as a Ford sub-brand.

Carrozzeria Alfredo Vignale was established in 1948 at Via Cigliano, Turin, by Alfredo Vignale. Its first body was on a Fiat 500 Topolino, and most customers were Italian: Cisitalia, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Fiat, Maserati and Lancia. In 1952 it worked with Briggs Cunningham on the Continental C-3. Vignale kept a close cooperation with Giovanni Michelotti, who opened his own studio in 1959 and ended the arrangement in 1962.

For British makers it built the Aston Martin DB2/4 Coupe, the Standard Vanguard Vignale, the Triumph Italia and, in early production, the Jensen Interceptor and the Jensen FF. It also made the Fiat 500-based Gamine and, in 1968, the Tatra 613 prototype. De Tomaso bought the firm in 1969, and Alfredo Vignale died in a car crash on 16 November 1969. The studio closed in 1973 when Ford, which owned much of De Tomaso, took the name. Ford used the name on the Lagonda Vignale concept of 1993 and, from 2015, as an upscale sub-brand on the Mondeo and other models.