Wednesday 18th November 2009

De Tomaso Poised For Comeback

Italian industrialist plans new future for defunct brand

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The famous De Tomaso brand will be revived at the Geneva motorshow in 2011, if ambitious plans by Italian industrialist Gian Mario Rossignolo reach fruition.

Pantera, the best-known De Tomaso

Rossignolo is a former CEO of Lancia, Telecom Italia and Zanussi (according to Wikipedia!), and has harboured ambitions to start making his own motorcars for some time. In 2007 he was behind a failed plan to buy Bertone, which has since been swallowed up by Fiat, and in the 1990s he relaunched the Isotta Fraschini brand with an Audi-based concept that never reached production.

According to reports the De Tomaso relaunch will be made possible by Rossignolo's purchase of a Pininfarina plant - a deal announced last month and due to be completed soon - that will allow him to implement his Innovation in Auto Industry S.p.A project (IAI).

IAI is a business plan that allows for the building of a three model range of aluminium vehicles using a new low-cost spaceframe technology called Univis which minimises tooling requirements while allowing for numerous model derivatives. If it works as planned a new luxury saloon, sportscar and SUV are all on the cards.

The Audi based Isotta T8 concept

The De Tomaso nameplate has apparently been up for sale at the Modena bankruptcy court for some time, following the liquidation of De Tomaso in 2004, and latest reports suggest that too has been bought by Rossignolo.

If all the pieces fall together, reports from Italy suggest the three new De Tomaso badged models will all be shown at Geneva in less than two years time. In which case Gianmario Rossignolo is going to be a very busy man.

[bakerjuk]

Bleugh ! That Audi looks horendous.. Please make some old school Pantera's again..

Edited by bakerjuk on Wednesday 18th November 13:00

[Dagnut]

NO way it looks like that...chilhood hero of mine I'm sure they'll ruin it.

[nelly_h]

Hope so. Would be great to see the name back on a supercar.

He'd better employ a better stylist than at Isotta though. Even by 1990s standards that prototype looked nasty

[B Oeuf]

How could anyone better this?

[Dagnut]

Could not be better..its like someone trying to re do Sargent Peppers...Its a fail before you even begin

[Dakkon]

B Oeuf said:

How could anyone better this?

Want one....meh, need to save more buttons....

[LCR270]

imagine what it would be like with the wide body kit added too

[GTRene]

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1163612.htm

[LukeBird]

GTRene said:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1163612.htm

Here's hoping that the name is not sullied by some god awful badge-engineered heap of rubbish!

[anonymous-user]

B Oeuf said:

How could anyone better this?

That tops my lottery win must have list. Absolutely stunning.

[0to60]

I remember from pistonheads news a long time ago, when they showed soem concept renders by a student which looked really good

couldn't find the pistonheads link...but found it on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-9ZMIYB0wg

[Oddball RS]

I'm loveing the Audi version, who would have thought a shortened Audi could look soooo fowl, it worked OK first time around.

[V88Dicky]

Really hope the new will be as good as the old, these were my favourite Italian supercars when I was young. Italian style with reliable American V8s.. whats not to like?

[dinkel]

bakerjuk said:

Bleugh ! That Audi looks horendous.. Please make some old school Pantera's again..

Edited by bakerjuk on Wednesday 18th November 13:00

2nd.

[smash]

dinkel said:

bakerjuk said:

Bleugh ! That Audi looks horendous.. Please make some old school Pantera's again..

Edited by bakerjuk on Wednesday 18th November 13:00

2nd.

Turd!

[dapprman]

V88Dicky said:

Really hope the new will be as good as the old, these were my favourite Italian supercars when I was young. Italian style with reliable American V8s.. whats not to like?

Italian build quality ?

As a young whippersnapper I was a big fan of these and it was on my schoolboy must have list. However as I got older and started to read up on cars .... I read an article where they were having problems with the Pantera prototype over heating when driven at slow speeds round town. What ever they did would not stop the red warning light coming on. De Tomosa's answer - he had the engineers put a larger resistor in the test circuit and strangely enough the over-heating warnings stopped.

[Vario-Rob]

dapprman said:

V88Dicky said:

Really hope the new will be as good as the old, these were my favourite Italian supercars when I was young. Italian style with reliable American V8s.. whats not to like?

Italian build quality ?

As a young whippersnapper I was a big fan of these and it was on my schoolboy must have list. However as I got older and started to read up on cars .... I read an article where they were having problems with the Pantera prototype over heating when driven at slow speeds round town. What ever they did would not stop the red warning light coming on. De Tomosa's answer - he had the engineers put a larger resistor in the test circuit and strangely enough the over-heating warnings stopped.

That was nearly forty years ago mind you, DeTomaso did none the less prefer leaving the development of its cars with the owners!

As an aside I wonder if this article got picked up from this posting a few days ago?

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Anyway if any other interesting stuff raises its head on this I’ll do my best to post it up, some sados like me live in hope of a return and the ability to buy a 21st Century Pantera.

Tjaarda styled and Ford GT powered is a must for this project to work

[V88Dicky]

dapprman said:

V88Dicky said:

Really hope the new will be as good as the old, these were my favourite Italian supercars when I was young. Italian style with reliable American V8s.. whats not to like?

Italian build quality ?

As a young whippersnapper I was a big fan of these and it was on my schoolboy must have list. However as I got older and started to read up on cars .... I read an article where they were having problems with the Pantera prototype over heating when driven at slow speeds round town. What ever they did would not stop the red warning light coming on. De Tomosa's answer - he had the engineers put a larger resistor in the test circuit and strangely enough the over-heating warnings stopped.

I think overall that Italian build quality has improved somewhat since the heady days of the 70's and 80's. I've heard the latest Fiats and Alfas are quite well built.

[Dagnut]

V88Dicky said:

dapprman said:

V88Dicky said:

Really hope the new will be as good as the old, these were my favourite Italian supercars when I was young. Italian style with reliable American V8s.. whats not to like?

Italian build quality ?

As a young whippersnapper I was a big fan of these and it was on my schoolboy must have list. However as I got older and started to read up on cars .... I read an article where they were having problems with the Pantera prototype over heating when driven at slow speeds round town. What ever they did would not stop the red warning light coming on. De Tomosa's answer - he had the engineers put a larger resistor in the test circuit and strangely enough the over-heating warnings stopped.

I think overall that Italian build quality has improved somewhat since the heady days of the 70's and 80's. I've heard the latest Fiats and Alfas are quite well built.

I thought they where made in the US?? DeTomaso was argentinian asaik I could be wrong but

[bakerjuk]

B Oeuf said:

How could anyone better this?

If there is a competition to have wider back wheels then I think it would be impossible to better this.
I really hope they dont butcher it and go down Fords GT40 route if they make a modern taken on a classic.