One of Italy's best known consumer products is being given a new lease of life - the result of a partnership between an Isle of Man company and the world's biggest producer of stove-top coffee-makers.

STRIX, the world's biggest maker of kettle controls, and Bialetti Industrie of Italy, which makes the familiar eight-sided moka pot, are collaborating to produce an electric model.

The machine, to be unveiled next month, is aimed primarily at markets outside Italy, on the grounds that many non-Italians will find an electric coffee-maker more convenient than one that has to be put on a stove to boil.

Bialetti's moka maker, which passes hot water through coffee beans to provide sharp-tasting espresso, is known worldwide as an icon of Italian domestic life. It was invented in 1933 by Alfonso Bialetti, the company's founder.

While Bialetti is not the only Italian concern to make coffee pots of this sort, it says it produces 60 per cent of the 10m products of this kind made each year, most of which stay inside Italy.

Since the 1950's, Bialetti has made nearly 300m espresso pots.

Branko Moeys, export manager, said the new pot - which will retail for about €50 (£30), twice as much as the stove-top product - should lead to a "significant" boost in exports, particularly to North America, Asia and northern Europe.

While Bialetti is not keen to forecast how many units it might sell, Eddie Davies, chairman of STRIX, hoped that in 2005 his company would sell 2m-3m elements and heating systems for the pot. That could add 10 per cent to last year's sales of £70m.

STRIX has expanded in the past 10 years, selling controls fitted to plastic kettles. Last year, 97 per cent of its sales were outside the UK.

A team of eight engineers, drawn from STRIX and Bialetti, has spent the past six months perfecting the design of the pot. This has ensured that the rate at which heat is applied using the electrical system to the water inside the pot is comparable to what happens with the stove-top model.

"A lot of engineering has gone into this product to ensure that the quality of the coffee made using the new process is not impaired," says Mr Moeys.

STRIX says the system gives a more consistent cup of coffee than the stove-top model. Also, because the electrical system switches itself off, it is safer. Sometimes people leave the traditional Bialetti coffee maker on the stove too long, causing its aluminium parts to melt.

Mr Moeys said Bialetti had teamed up with STRIX because it had been impressed by its contribution to the tea-drinking world. "We hope it can do a similar job with coffee."

Privately owned Bialetti, which also makes frying pans, last year had sales of €120m and employes 500.