DETROIT -- At a ceremony on board a jumbo 747 cargo jet at Detroit's Metro Airport, the Cadillac division of General Motors Corp. Wednesday signed a $100 million agreement with two airlines to fly Italian-made bodies to Detroit for the 1987-model Allante 'ultra luxury' roadster.
Cadillac General Manager John O. Grettenberger said the air cargo contract, signed with Alitalia and Lufthansa Airlines, calls for the Italian and German carriers to transport 56 car bodies on specially outfitted Boeing 747 jumbo jets three times a week.
The contract, with renewable options and a clause to account for any currency fluctuations, is regarded as the largest in terms of distance and dollar amount.
'The Allante Airbridge represents the largest assembly line in the world,'Grettenberger said.
The bodies, to be made at the facilities of Italian designer Pininfarina S.p.A., will be shipped 3,302 miles from the Caselle airport near Turin to Detroit. There they will be mated with their drivetrains on a separate line at GM's new Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant, which opened this year.
That plant just started production of the restyled 1986-model Cadillac Seville and Eldorado, Buick Riviera and Oldsmobile Toronado.
The Allante, to be launched this fall as a 1987 model, is a two-seater luxury roadster designed to compete with cars like the Mercedes-Benz 560 roadster and the Jaguar XJS coupe, which are priced in the $36,000-$50,000 range.
Although no price has been set, it is believed the limited-production Allante will cost as much as $50,000.
Specifically, the contract calls for bodies to be shipped from Pininfarina by truck on specially designed aluminum cradles to Caselle Airport, which recently had its runway lengthened and facilities upgraded by the Italian government.
The cradles are then nestled on the upper and lower decks of the jumbos about an inch apart to maximize capacity. They are then flown to Detroit.
The jumbos will not return empty. About 80 U.S.-made automotive components used in the Allante body assembly, such as climate control and steering systems, radios and floor pans, will be shipped back to Italy onboard the Alitalia jets.
The Lufthansa jumbos will fly from Detroit to Frankfurt with various components used for foreign made GM models, and then transport German-made parts on to Italy for the Allante assembly.
Grettenberger said air transport was chosen over shipping because of the time factor -- 8 hours versus about 24 days by sea. He also said the risk of damage is lessened and the whole arrangement facilitates 'just-in-time' assembly.
Reports in the Italian press more than a year ago reported that the five year contract bewteen Cadillac and Pininfarina to build about 40,000 Allante bodies was worth about $587 million.
Although Grettenberger would not confirm that cost, Sergio Pininfarina said that massive investments were needed at his facilities to meet the contract, and that nearly 40 percent of his production would be dedicated to building Allantes.
Grettenberger said that about 7,000 Allantes will be built in the first year, with production possibly rising to 8,000 per year after 1987.
'This is America's first entry into the highest echelon of the luxury car market -- the ultra luxury market,' he said.
