Venturi Automobiles Enhances Chances for Success by Establishing North American Headquarters in Central Ohio

Venturi Automobiles founder, Gildo Pastor, knows there are plenty of risks associated with creating a car company that solely builds electric vehicles (EV) in what is yet a still unproven market.  And while some risks are worth taking, Pastor says he wasn’t willing to compromise on the intellect, connections and experience that Ohio State and its Center for Automotive Research (CAR) have been able to offer Venturi.

Venturi was a sponsor and major contributor to CAR’s successful quest to set EV land speed records with the Buckeye Bullet and he says it was through those experiences that he made the decision to form his North American headquarters in Central Ohio. 

“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.”

Venturi North America has established its headquarters in the TechColumbus business incubator, just down the road from CAR.

“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.  “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.” 

Learn more about Venturi’s plans in the interview with Pastor published in OSU’s faculty newsletter:  OnCampus: http://oncampus.osu.edu/2011/02/coming-to-america/