Erich Bitter Automobil GmbH (Bitter) is a premium sports-luxury automobile marque produced in Germany and later Austria. Founder Erich Bitter, a former racing driver turned automobile tuner, importer and ultimately designer began crafting his own vehicles after business ventures with Italian manufacture Intermeccanica ended. Bitter specialises in rebody-ing other manufacturer's vehicles and its initial production was between 1973 and 1989, selling vehicles in Europe and the United States. Thereafter, several prototypes followed with possible future low-volume production, but none arrived until the launch of the Bitter Vero in 2007. CD The Bitter CD, a three-door hatchback coupe featuring a Chevrolet V8 with a 327ci displacement, was built between 1973-1979. The CD was first shown in prototype form on 9 September 1969 at the Frankfurt Auto Show, as the Opel Coupé Diplomat ("CD") derived from the sedan version. It was designed by Charles M. "Chuck" Jordan (Opel's Design boss between 1967-1971 and later vice-president of General Motors (GM)) and Opel designer Dick Ruzzin, with the assistance of George A. Gallion, David Holls, Herbert Killmer and Hideo Kodama, as well as Erhard Fast (Director of the Opel Designstudios 3 for Advanced Design from 1964). The tail was inspired by an Erhard Fast's proposal for the 1969 Opel Aero GT. Thanks to the positive reaction to the CD prototype, Opel considered developing a production model. The doors would adopt a conventional opening system and the bumper bar, windshield wipers and other parts would be derived from the Opel Diplomat in order to facilitate production and maintain costs. Robert "Bob" Lutz, who was the Head of Opel at the time and was keen to produce the car, commissioned Pietro Frua to advance the concept and produce two road-going prototypes. In 1971, it was David R. "Dave" Holls (Opel design boss since July 1971; previously assistant to Chuck Jordan) who encouraged Erich Bitter to build the Bitter CD. As a result, Bitter GMBH was formed in 1971 to market the CD. He based his company on a site in his home town of Schwelm, Germany. However, because he did not have the necessary capital and other resources to set up his own production facilities, Bitter turned to Baur GmbH in Stuttgart, as a proven independent small-scale manufacturer. He selected them based on their ability to produce high-quality prototypes and limited-production cars for other German manufacturers. Bitter based his original CD designs on those of Frua,