- Founded
- 1964 – 2006
- Headquarters
- Youngstown, United States
South Bend Studebaker dealers Nate and Arnold Altman and Leo Newman formed Avanti Motor Corporation after acquiring the Avanti name, tooling, parts and plant space following Studebaker's December 1963 shutdown. Their hand-built Avanti II entered production in 1965 with Chevrolet power on the Studebaker-derived frame. Stephen Blake bought the business in 1982, modernized the car and dropped the II suffix, but failed in 1986. Mike Kelly revived production for 1987 as New Avanti Motor Corporation, adopting GM chassis, producing the first convertible and lengthened Luxury Sport Coupe. J. J. Cafaro moved the renamed company to Youngstown and introduced a four-door Luxury Touring Sedan before production stopped in 1991. During the hiatus, Jim Bunting, Tom Kellogg and Bill Lang built three Firebird/Camaro-based AVX development cars. John Seaton and Kelly acquired those assets and resumed coupe and convertible manufacture at Villa Rica in 2000, first on GM F-body and later Ford Mustang foundations. Production moved to Cancún for 2006 and ended that year amid the company's collapse. The independent marque is catalogued separately from the original 1962–63 Studebaker Avanti; proposed but unbuilt derivatives and later-titled inventory are not counted as new models or production years.
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