News

Abandoned Cadillac Allanté Factory In Italy In Ruins: Video

By the time the Cadillac Allanté began being delivered to customers, each example had made quite the journey. In the late 1980s through early 1990s, Allanté bodies were shipped from the Pininfarina San Giorgio factory in Italy to the Detroit-Hamtramck plant, where they were completed with domestically-manufactured chassis and engines. Despite being responsible for manufacturing operations of some Cadillac, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari models, the Pininfarina factory has since fallen into disrepair, and urban explorers recently entered the decaying facility to check out what it looks like now. 

As a reminder, Cadillac joined forces with Pininfarina in 1983 for the Allante. Shortly thereafter, the San Giorgio factory was built to handle the project in 1985. The Italian coachbuilder designed and built Allanté bodies locally, handling painting , adding trim and convertible tops.  The unfinished bodies were then shipped from Turin International Airport in Italy via modified Boeing 747s – aka the “Air Bridge,” which could carry up 56 car bodies per flight to be finished in Detroit. This process was referred to as “the world’s longest assembly line,” and was, understandably, a very costly operation. 

1993 Cadillac Allanté

Just 21,430 units of the Cadillac Allanté were sold, as cost of production proved to outweigh the profits. Assembly for the two-door drop-top wrapped up after the 1994 model year, and the San Giorgio facility shifted focus. Post-Cadillac projects included Ferrari models, Peugeot, and, most recently, Alfa Romeo.

However, the 2008 recession proved to be too much for the niche facility to overcome, as producing exclusive, high-dollar vehicles in very limited quantities was no longer a sustainable business model. The San Giorgio factory was shuttered in November 2010, and the facility has remained largely untouched since, save for the odd copper thief or urban explorer. 

Check out the video below to see what remains of the once-great factory responsible for production of the Cadillac Allanté.

Want the latest on all things Cadillac? Then subscribe to Cadillac Society for the latest Cadillac news coverage. We also invite you to join the latest discussions in our Cadillac forums.

Alexandra Purcell

Alexandra is a Colorado-based journalist with a passion for all things involving horsepower, be it automotive or equestrian.

Share
Published by

Recent Posts

Cadillac Performance Vehicles Delivered To Secret Service For Testing And Training

Models include V-series sedans as well as the Escalade-V.

1 week ago

Cadillac Super Cruise Updates Released For 2018-2024 Vehicles

The update includes software enhancements related to propulsion control modules.

2 weeks ago

2025 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing Le Monstre Package Pushes Super Sedan Pricing To Nearly $200K

A fully loaded CT5-V Blackwing equipped with the package can carry an MSRP close to…

2 weeks ago

Photos Show 2026 Cadillac Optiq-V In The Real World Without Camouflage

The performance-enhanced battery electric crossover will be part of Cadillac’s fifth-generation V-Series portfolio.

3 weeks ago

2026 Cadillac Escalade Production Set To Start In September

Dealers will be able to begin placing orders on July 10th, 2025.

3 weeks ago