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Coming to America

Posted on | February 16, 2011 | 2,069 views | 2 Comments

Thanks to Ohio State, Venturi Automobiles brings its operation, and jobs, to Columbus

by Adam King

There are untold risks running a car company that solely builds electric vehicles in a still-budding market. But Gildo Pastor, the CEO of Monaco-based Venturi Automobiles, has a history of gumption.

He loves a challenge, hence his company’s financial and technological support of Ohio State’s Center for Automotive Research (CAR) in its quest to set electric vehicle land speed records with the Buckeye Bullet. He’s now bringing that company-embedded spirit to the United States with the formation of a North American research and development operation based in Columbus.

It’s a small step now — only about 70 jobs will be created with this venture — but it could mean big things down the line should the electric vehicle market take off.

Venturi has shown an ability to produce quality EVs for the high-end market with its Fétish sports car as well as the service market: The French postal service, La Poste, has ordered a full complement of Venturi’s delivery vehicles developed in conjunction with PSA Peugeot Citroën.

Eventually Pastor has plans to launch a three-wheeled delivery vehicle in the US, an example of his objective to build his American presence rather than use what Venturi learns here to solely benefit his established European business.

“We have great assets and technologies, and we want to marry companies who are willing to develop things and do that with them and keep developing technologies here,” said Pastor during a recent visit. “So we are building a fully American team here. We spent a lot of time talking with car manufacturers and suppliers. We have a big range of EV in development and in production and some of them are going to be developed here also, focusing on things that are useful up to things that are very cool.”

But why Ohio? And why Columbus in particular?

While some risks are worth taking, Pastor said he was unwilling to compromise on the intellect, connections and experience Ohio State and CAR have been able to offer Venturi.

“Five years ago, I was studying what was going on here, and I realized the experience of this department in CAR, it was unique in terms of racing,” Pastor said. “I used to race myself, and when I turned my company into an EV company 10 years ago, I tried to find what was going to be the racing of the future.

“What the students are doing and CAR is doing are really exceptional. There is a lot of knowledge at Ohio State. We have a lot of knowledge too, and we’re happy to bring it here.”

Pastor said his experience in working with CAR Director Giorgio Rizzoni resembled the business-friendly environment he encountered in Bordeaux, France, where Venturi built a battery management systems facility.

“You know exactly the right people there and you can discuss anything,” Pastor said. “You talk about what can we do, what are the missing parts, you can exchange ideas and that is essential. That’s why we opened up our factory in a special region of France because we found this way of working. It is people who say we appreciate your technology, we appreciate your way of working, how can we help and how can we create that mixture that makes good business.”

Venturi North America will establish its headquarters on Ohio State’s West Campus in the TechColumbus corridor on Kinnear Road — literally just down the road from CAR.

“We are very excited to expand our partnership with Venturi and look forward to helping Venturi achieve its goals in central Ohio and in North America,” Rizzoni said. “It is clear that our region is becoming an increasingly important player in vehicle electrification, thanks to the many partnerships OSU has built with the automotive and electric power industries.”

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