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The famous
Italian sportscar maker De Tomaso could shortly be returning
to production with reports circulating that the firm has
been sold to an English buyer.
De Tomaso was
put into liquidation last summer by Isabel Haskell, wife of
founder Alejandro De Tomaso the larger than life businessman
who steered the tiny firm throughout its history.
Alejandro, who
was born in Argentina in 1928, passed away on 31st May 2003.
The De Tomaso family started building their own cars in
1959, and took control of another famous Italian carmaker,
Maserati, for a period from 1975. The firm is probably best
known for the long-running, Ford-engined Pantera model.
De Tomaso
Automobili: brief history
In 1959 Alejandro De Tomaso
established De Tomaso Automobili at Modena, concerned with
the construction of racing cars. Having been born and
brought up in Argentina, he had left (supposedly for
political reasons), married an American lady and moved to
Italy. The racing cars used his own chassis and were powered
first by OSCA engines and then Ford units.
Road cars
came later, starting with the mid-engined Vallelunga
(powered by a 1.5-litre Cortina engine) in 1963, then the
Mangusta, and then the classic Pantera. At a similar time
the Deauville saloon and Longchamp 2+2 coupe were developed.
All the cars used big Ford V8 engines and had bodies
designed and built by Ghia, a coachbuilder purchased by De
Tomaso (jointly with Ford) in 1967. Vignale was also
acquired and used for production, as was a later
relationship with Maggiora.
The
Pantera got off to a good start with the blessing (and
marketing) of Ford, a deal which, for the few years it
lasted, saw high sales. After the oil crisis and the poor
quality of the cars scuppered the deal with Ford, De Tomaso
returned to the realms of low volume manufacturers where
they continued until 1991 with a revised Pantera before
introducing a new model, the Guara.
Outside investment saw the Bigua shown in 1996, but the
relationship turned sour and the resulting company, Qvale,
split off.
DE TOMASO - UAE
JOINT VENTURE TO BUILD SIMBIR SUV IN CALABRIA
Approval has
already been granted to start building the four wheel drive
Simbir SUV in the Calabria region of Southern Italy. This
recent joint venture between De Tomaso and giant Russian
automobile manufacturer UAE, was not affected by the
decision made last year to put De Tomaso into liquidation.
Major regional
aid, from both the Italian government and the European
Union, has been granted to the Simbir project which will, it
is hoped, bring much-needed jobs to one of Italy's poorer
regions, while the debts of De Tomaso have for the most part
now been written off.
This leaves the firm, which has been able to successfully
retain the core of its skilled engineering staff, with a
relatively clean slate, and there are believed to be several
exciting new projects in the pipeline as a possible new
dawn, under new ownership, emerges.
TWO NEW
SPORTSCARS IN THE PIPELINE
These will
include two all-new sportscar models, which are expected to
be, like the Simbir SUV, built as part of the joint venture
between De Tomaso and UAE. A new Pantera and Vallelunga, two
of the most famous cars from De Tomaso's history, will be
constructed at the new Calabria located factory.
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