Originally Posted by
T-Mar
Collaborations between American marketing companies and Italian companies were a mini-trend in the mid-1980s. When they couldn't crack the high end market to the desired extent with Japanese made models, Centurion, Lotus and Nishiki all introduced high end models manufactured in Italy using Columbus tubesets and Campagnolo parts. They all disappeared within a few years, shortly after Shimano introducing SIS in new Dura-Ace. Like Centurion, Lotus used the high recognition Cinelli connection, while possible Nishiki sources have been suggested as Colnago, Olmo and Viner
I suspect the fundamental distinction between normal contracting relationships and the Centurion/Lotus/Nishiki collaborations with Italian makers was that the Italians on the other side those relationships were already big names in the US. Ben Lawee's Italvega, as a complementary example, also connected an American marketing company with a well-established Italian manufacturer (Torpado in this case) which — though very big — wasn't as well known this side of the pond.