quote:Originally posted by detroitmaso:
Charlie,
I sure would love to see that happen, and what you are saying does make a lot of sense, but is there really enough interest in the Detomaso name for someone to buy it? The race history just isn't there. I mean Detomaso built and raced a few cars but never made a huge impact or name for himself in the racing world. -snip-
I hate to be so pessimistic about it because, like anyone else, I think it would be great for Detomaso to continue on and become a truly world class automotive name. However, you can be pretty sure that no large automotive company will never absorb Detomaso, especially Ford (too much bad blood). The only way it could happen is as you descibed. Someone with a ton of money, and the desire to make a sports car buys the rights to the name.
Lets hope it all works out this way.
Ian
Hi Ian
DeTomaso doesn't have an outstanding racing history, but at least it does have one. Any racing history would be more than the none that a brand new company would have. A talented PR or marketing guy wouldn't let the truth get in the way of a good story ;-) He could show photos of old racers from the 60's... He could show Panteras at Le Mans... He wouldn't have to say that only one finished... He could show that photo of Alejandro and Enzo Ferrari looking at DeTomaso's F2 car... It would give the company some kind of tie-in to a company that built race cars.
I was going to agree with you and say that DeTomaso would never be absorbed by a large, established corporation and our only chance was for an entrepreneur to buy the name to buy instant history, as mentioned yesterday. But now that I think about it, for the sake of argument, suppose that someone that has no history of building sports cars wants to enter the market. Just for the sake of argument, let me present another possibility.
Toyota established a brand new marque to enter the luxury market - Lexus. Lexus didn't have a history of building cars, they didn't have a reputation for outstanding quality... they didn't have ANY reputation! But because the Lexus really is a high quality product, it caught on and established itself as a leader in the market. Let's say that Toyota decide that they want to enter the Sports Car market to compete with the elite. They can either do the same as they did with Lexus - invent a brand, or they can purchase a name.
Anyone who follows cars knows that Lexus is Toyota, but if you don't really know much about cars you don't know or don't care. Perhaps you don't know that DeTomaso is really Toyota. It isn't really important. The brand is resurrected and built by new owners, Toyota. It isn't a Toyota, it is a DeTomaso. If you look under the skin, of course, it is exactly the opposite.
A criticism sometimes heard in the early days of the Dodge Viper is that it had no history, and no racing heritage. That changed, of course, but if they had bought a name that did have racing heritage, however successful or unsuccessful, that's one more feather in their cap.
I'm just sitting here on a Saturday night with a cold beer and thinking out loud. These scenarios are long shots, sure. I'm just trying to think of how it could happen... happy to hear your thoughts