The Strange Lawsuit That Landed a Chevy Beretta in Beretta Headquarters – Jalopnik

Car and Driver subscribers expected cool cars on the cover in the late ’80s. The October ’88 issue featured a yellow C4 Corvette ZR-1 with flames underneath and the headline: “The Corvette From Hell!” Those C4 Corvette ZR-1s are cheap now, but still monstrously cool. The November ’88 cover featured a new Lamborghini Countach with roses by the passenger door, perhaps abandoned in an attempt to woo the V12 beast. Then, in February 1989, we got Otis the Avocado in a Buick Reatta. Artistically it was a step back. But the strangest thing about this issue wasn’t that Car and Driver thought its readers were interested in Buicks or guacamole ingredients, but in the article “Beretta vs. Beretta shoot-out’ that it said.

The story focused on a Chevrolet Beretta going head-to-head with Italian gunmaker Beretta’s 92 (or its military equivalent, the M9), a semi-automatic pistol known for not being an auto. This would be the only time these two unrelated products cross paths, right? There’s no way a firearms manufacturer in Italy could ever care about an American front-wheel drive coupe made on General Motors’ L platform, right?

Well, Fabbrica d’Armi Pietro Beretta SpA was quite annoyed that GM had the audacity to use the name, which had been trademarked in the US since 1954. Beretta is over 500 years old and still owned by the family that founded the company, and doesn’t want anyone to think that the company is allowing other entities to use its identity without express permission. This is how a lawsuit between two heritage companies led to a Chevy Beretta GTU Coupe being placed in Beretta’s U.S. headquarters in Gallatin, Tennessee.

Although lawsuits today typically target gun manufacturers, the situation was reversed in July 1988. Then Beretta went to a federal courthouse in New York and demanded $250 million in damages from General Motors. The automaker had put the revered Italian name on a car that was the luxury equivalent of a frozen pizza.

Plus, $250 million (almost $685 million in 2025) seems a bit excessive, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not like GM wasn’t warned. The Chevrolet Beretta debuted in 1987 and the gunmaker immediately sent warning messages to GM. As for GM’s response? This was the company that took a decade to address problems with the design of the Cadillac Northstar engine, and became upset when it could no longer use whale oil in the transmission fluid, so it’s not surprising that it ignored Beretta. Then came the lawsuit and GM realized that sticking its fingers in its ears and saying “la-la-la-la-la” wasn’t going to work.

GM’s lawyers contacted Beretta to address the situation in a way that would not result in a quarter of a billion dollars disappearing from the company’s coffers. The settlement was surprisingly amicable. GM donated $500,000 to the Beretta Foundation for Cancer Research and Treatment, and Chevrolet’s coupe was allowed to keep its name, although catalogs had to indicate Beretta’s approval. As a sign of burying a hatchet, each company gave the other a gift. Beretta donated a shotgun and a rifle to then-GM CEO Roger Smith. The gift from GM was a Chevy Beretta with the gunmaker’s logo and “Beretta USA” painted on the side. Since 2016, the car has been in factory new condition in the Beretta office in Gallatin.

The Beretta sold well in the first few years, and a convertible version even served as a pace car for the Indy 500. In 1988, GM produced 275,098. But like the Pontiac Fiero before it, the excitement quickly faded. In 1989, Beretta production fell to 180,242 units. It was the last time the model’s annual production number reached 100,000. The Beretta was discontinued in 1996.

Unlike the Fiero, the Beretta did not improve with age. The most powerful engine, the Quad 4, went from 180 hp in ’92 to 170 hp in ’94. Only available with an automatic transmission, the V6 lost 5 horsepower in ’95 and never regained it. Berettas aren’t exactly collectibles either. A yellow 1990 Chevrolet Beretta GT, with a manual transmission and a range of 50 miles, came up for sale in 2025, perhaps the nicest one in existence, and it wasn’t even asking $30,000.

Conversely, Beretta’s 92 pistol is still in production and experiencing a modern renaissance. The Beretta 92/M9 is a common sight in movies, TV shows, and video games, but the most interesting version is its rare, 3-shot burst-compatible brother, the 93R (R stands for “raffica” or “burst” in English). The 93R is probably best known as Robocop’s weapon of choice. The pistol’s extended trigger guard was necessary to fit the robot suit’s thick fingers. Speaking of pop culture, maybe GM could have avoided a lawsuit if it had changed the spelling and gone with something like “Baretta.” Oh, wait, that name was used for the show “Baretta” starring actor and accused murderer Robert Blake. Never mind.