In 2009, the De Tomaso brand was bought by Italian businessman and former Fiat executive Gian Mario Rossignolo, who had a plan to revive the sports car manufacturer. By 2011, things were looking promising for the brand following the presentation of the Deauville crossover concept – good in terms of potential revenues, not necessarily design-wise.
De Tomaso had even started development work on a new Pantera sports car, but last year, the company went bankrupt, with rumors circulating at the time that BMW was interested in buying it. Unfortunately for the brand, that scenario never materialized, but the De Tomaso saga continues, as the rights to the brand have been purchased by Italy’s ATS (Automobili Turismo e Sport), the maker of the Sport 1000 race and street-legal car.
Autoblog.com has learned that ATS is preparing to relaunch De Tomaso with a new lineup, with future De Tomaso products to share platforms and other technologies with ATS models. More specifically, a new Pantera could use the platform of the ATS 2500 GT, an upcoming mid-engined sports car. As for the Deauville project, the report says it was never more than a rebodied Cadillac SRX and has no real future - not necessarily bad news here.
It sounds great so far, but Automobili Turismo e Sport went back into business only last year, on the occasion of the original brand’s 50th anniversary. It remains to be seen whether it has the financial strength to bring the 2500 GT to market, let alone develop new De Tomaso vehicles. Official details will be announced later this month.
By Dan Mihalascu
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