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 * This article is about the automobile manufacturer. For other meanings, see Venturi (disambiguation)

Venturi
“Venturi” is a French supercar manufacturer started in 1984. It was started with the partnership of Gerard Godfroy as the designer and Claude Poiraud as the engineer, who both formerly worked for the French automotive company Heuliez. The first appearance of a Venturi car was at the Paris Salon art exhibition in October 1984. It was powered by a Volkswagen Golf GTI engine and the body cut from a block of polyurethane foam. The exhibition stand was an immediate success and many potential buyers and financial backers stated a keen interest. One of the most serious supporters was Herve Boulan, who was passionate of the car for a long time. The extensive interest in the car pushed Gerard and Claude to cater for the supercar market rather than the sports car market for which they originally intended. The handmade cars produced are compared to the likes of Porsche and ]Ferrari.

History
After the Paris Salon exhibition the proprietors looked for a suitable site to start manufacture. Initially Herve Boulan wanted to start up in the town of Montlhéry, but Gerard Godfroy chose Cholet because the local labour there was very qualified for than handmade manufacture of supercars. As well as skilled labout the manufacture of Venturi cars is also very labour intensive, for instance each Transcup model takes 500 working hours to manufacture.