Venturi Atlantique History

The Atlantique was a comprehensive restyling of the original MVS Venturi, introduced around 1990–1991 with cleaner, more resolved bodywork while keeping the proven steel spaceframe and mid-mounted PRV V6 architecture. The Atlantique 260 used the stroked 2.8-litre turbocharged PRV at 260 PS and 0–100 km/h in around 5.2 seconds, establishing itself as a genuine performance machine in the Porsche 911 Carrera class.

Scotsman Hubert O'Neill purchased Venturi in 1994 and commissioned the 400 GT, an extreme twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre derivative producing around 408 PS and fitted with what is claimed to be the first production set of carbon-ceramic brakes. Only about 15 examples were built before Venturi's first bankruptcy in 1996. A Thai firm, Nakarin Benz, then acquired the brand and introduced the new Atlantique 300 at the 1994 Paris Motor Show — a 24-valve 3.0-litre DOHC V6 with 210 PS naturally aspirated or 281 PS turbocharged — followed by the Atlantique 300 Biturbo of 1998, which used the twin-turbocharged L7X V6 at 310 PS. Roughly 13 examples of the Biturbo were built in 1999–2000 before a second bankruptcy ended classic production entirely.

Total output across the brand's 1987–2000 lifespan was approximately 700 cars, making surviving examples exceptionally rare today.