"new" de Tomaso

Read the whole thread. Interesting stuff!

The comments about the “New” DeTomaso organization sound ominous. Not what you would want to hear about their attempt to come back to the market.
Unless all of the other players are just trying to shovel dirt to put DeTomaso back in the grave permanently, it does not sound good.
I have been reluctant to get excited about the new venture when they first announced an SUV as their first project. An upscale SUV with the new (horrific) DeTomaso badge will not excite the market.
Jeff
Still hoping for a version of the “Panthera” to wear the “old” DT badge in America.

There are some very good people in place in the San Diego region who are helping homologate the new DeTomaso Automobili cars. It is sad that before one car has even hit the road, there is a lot of negativity about the organization and the cars. Clearly, if DeTomaso Automobili intends to reach out to us old 'skool owners, more of an attempt would be helpful. They do have some big plans including having a DeTomaso Museum at their factory and naturally, a new Pantera which I am told they are trying to advance in terms of its release.
The new owners of DeTomaso have major experience in automobile production, particularly using aluminum. I wish the new Pantera was first out of the gate. I would be willing to bet that by next year's Concorso, there will be at least one new DeTomaso on the grass and increased factory presence. It would be a positive thing to again have a functioning factory so DeTomaso does not become a totally obscure marque.

I read the whole ferrarichat thread. Fun stuff.

I am disappointed to hear the news about Detomaso. They may be jerks, but I am still hoping they can produce a good Pantera.

Do they plan on shipping to the US?

quote:

Originally posted by RobertVegas:
Do they plan on shipping to the US?

I would think so since that's where all the serious money is still located. If not, then it's their loss.

The new De Tomaso owners sent a PR/film crew to the Reno Fun Rally and they conducted extensive photo shoots, interviews with cars and owners, plus some back road video shoots on the day excursions.

Maybe things have changed but the imnpression at that point was they were most certainly going to build on the heritage of the De Tomaso marque. That said IMO it will be a long wait for a new Pantera if it ever comes at all.

I agree with Julian; I've seen nothing from nuova-DeTomaso that couldn't be explained by two facts:
1- we're not hiring outside consultants
2- we're not hiring outside designers. We're too busy getting the operation viable in a hostile financial climate, running in a failed assembly plant in a depressed region of Italy. We have plenty of problems relative the above, thanks.

Saw this come across my email, supposedly from a magazine in England:

De Tomaso Funding Shock

De Tomaso Automobili’s plans are in turmoil since the European Commission has denied the expected funding to train 900 employees at the company’s Grugliasco plant (previously owned by Pininfarina). This has slowed Gian Mario Rossignolo’s ambitious programme dramatically. Will there be a new De Tomaso at the 2011 Geneva motor show? That seems unlikely to happen now, with DeTomaso possibly forced to make many of its workers redundant.

New De Tomaso SLC has been revealed ahead of its debut at the Geneva Motor Show on March 1.


http://www.caradvice.com.au/10...led-ahead-of-geneva/

Big money for a Big car..........nice interior. They'll never make it to the Pantera though. This car is uninspiring.

looks like a Honda Civic with a very short guy standing next to it.

Where's my check book?



-G

You hit the nail on the head George. After reading your comment, that's all I could see!

Well, it's not all negative. Given the turmoil over the european commission funding, I think it's positive that they bring a car to geneve at all.

405 kW V8 - does that sound like a ford ?? Could be an engine for the upcoming coupe', - if that ever happens.

The movie...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...ture=player_embedded

Got a tip - Google for Bitter (or Opel) Isigna, and conclude that...

Bitter:


DT:


Bitter:


DT:

Good find! That's really interesting.

Bitter Isigna - another car I'd never buy I guess! Too bad because there were other Bitters that were kind of attractive

Wow ugly and a knock off. They should have a least copied something like the Aston Martin Rapide. The back end is hideous. Looks like some Chrysler. The wheels and tires yuck!

Extremely disappointing and at $175K + ! And they plan on building 3-4 K per year, who will the buyers be? Or will they join the un sold new Q. Mangustas still in inventory?

Sad really, I think the Bitter looks better too. I'm not the demographic they are looking for but, that's a lot of loot for a bland car no???

It has no fog lamps! What cavalier explorer has any hope of conquering pothole infested roads or of braving the treacherous, Fiat 500-stalling, speed bumps lying in wait in the Starbucks parking lot in a crossover without fog lamps?

Does anyone else think the car looks huge?

Umm... I kinda like it actually. Yes, it has the interior of the Isigna or the Cadillac SRX but it still looks nice. Having said that, I don't think it should wear the De Tomaso badge. It just isn't the right type of car. Then again the prototype Soviet SUV De Tomaso was working on wasn't the right type of car either. However, if it provides funding for the hopeful Pantera rebirth... All is well.

Tom Tjaarda had some excellent styling proposals for this new DeTomaso. He was dismissed by DeTomaso. They should re-hire him to do this car right before it is too late.
The engines are GM sourced. The V6 is from the new Cadillac SUV I understand and the V8 will be similar to the CTS-V. The only thing I like about the car is the diesel option.
The styling is really lackluster when considering the former Alejandro era cars. Mrs.DeTomaso's wagon would be a whole lot better and more useful as well.
It will be a miracle if these cars are a sales success. The new DeTomaso company is trying to target younger, more affluent customers and generally forsake us elder-cockers. If true, they are off to a flying start with this offering.

See the similarities? I think this is a rebody BMW X6....

.

..

The skeptic in me thinks this whole exercise is about milking various governments for tax dollars (lire?) under the guise of a realistic attempt at producing a vehicle.

I can't see why anyone outside of Italy would even consider buying such a lump. What sets it apart other than an obscure name on the back and a nice interior? I guess it's on-par with the ugliness of the X6. Service and repair dealerships will need to be piggy-backed on an existing brand. It worked with the new Mini, but that was a BMW-owned brand.

If this venture (with THAT "car") succeeds I'll print out this post and eat it.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by Mark Charlton:
If this venture (with THAT "car") succeeds I'll print out this post and eat it.

Mark

Print it in Post-it size, or A1?

If you change it to print out this thread I'll make sure to keep it going for at least 20 more pages. I guess I wish them luck as I would love to see a Pantera but, this isn't exciting at all.

Ha ha. Either way, I don't think there's much of a chance I'll be getting a lot of "fiber" on this one.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by Mark Charlton:


If this venture (with THAT "car") succeeds I'll print out this post and eat it.

Mark

Until I read this I had no interest in purchasing one, now I am wondering how many I need to purchase to make THIS happen.

OK. That's it. I'm buying a package of rice paper.



Mark

After scrutinizing the entire lux SUV market, I recently bought an Audi Q7 ... and I'm still a little shocked by the sheer cost of these vehicles. It's a necessity to have AWD in these parts ... but to spend DOUBLE on this new entrant? I dunno.

I'm not enamored with the style, but it could sell at half the price. Best of luck to these guys ...

OK. I get it now.

All along I've been expecting the "new" De Tomaso to harken back to the 60's and 70's for inspiration. Turns out that in an effort to capture the "younger" market, they have drawn inspiration from the crazy 80's....


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...c58c23#ht_1667wt_777

Mark (not going to be getting much fiber anytime soon).

Here are more photos of the DeTomaso sedan and the "warm" treatment the automotive press is giving it.
Click here for photos and article

That's just Wrong!

Just my .02 cents

I've made my feelings known. So much so that the last few posts were deleted. Anyhow, here's a different take on it.

I showed my wife these latest 3 pics of the SLS. Her lease will soon be up on her Merc SUV and she is looking around and has been sending me pics of cars she is looking at. She has absolutely no brand loyalty. She likes what looks nice. Period.

She thought that the SLS was a stunningly beautiful car. Sleek, swoopy and one she would buy. When I told her what it was she asked if was all about performance or just a regular car.

The bottom line: it fits right in with other nice cars she's looking at. It's right alongside Acuras and BMWs and Nissans. But costs twice as much. Not at all what we would expect as the new firstborn of "our" Marque but it's interesting to know that some women would find it so attractive. Seeing as few of us do.

It would be nice if this car would be a sales success whereby the new DeTomaso could bring the new Pantera to market. It is too bad the Pantera wasn't the first car launched. The sedan shown is being homologated for the U.S. and perhaps there will be buyers for it stateside. I am unaware of any attempt to reach out to DeTomaso owners by the new organization other than their filming the POCA Reno event last year. We are waiting.............

As some of us have said, we don't seem to care for the new car! As in not very good looking! And, the $175.000 price tag doesn't help! But thats just me!

If the designers are happy with the looks of this car, one can only wonder what the designers might think a new Pantera should look like? Let alone the price? I would guess the price tag of a new Pantera would be out of the reach of a lot of us? Again, Thats just me.

I like the new car. By that I mean I like it as much as several other SUVs.

It would be easy to doubt most car companies if all you had to look at was their SUV.

I hope it is a smashing success. I would consider buying one if it wasn't stupid expensive.

...fingers crossed for an upcoming Pantera.

Upcoming Pantera ?
Robert, do you realize that the new DT SUV's most powerful engine is the one coming from the Cadillac.... This car blew out the doors of Mercedes SLS in Nurburgring a couple of weeks ( or months ) ago. That was not communicated as it should have been, at least in Europe....
Just figure out ( logically, economically, and from a marketing point of view ) that very special engine + some " homemade refinements" in a new Pantera, providing it has an up to date chassis, suspensions, aero and brakes ( it seems impossible to me that a new Pantera would have a lousy chassis...)
Conclusion : the best is yet to come, but you'll have to break your piggybag !

Well after a pre-show launch with the vehicule being called a SLC then changed to SLS now the've re-named it Deauville ??? Go figure?

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/0...011-detomaso-reveal/

Why are all the people in the background looking down and away from the car? It's like they're ignoring it - or maybe they're filling out order forms so they can make Mark eat his words.

I'm curious what else was at the DeTomaso booth though, the overhead sign seems to be quite far back - were they displaying any classic DeTomasos to establish the car's pedigree?

Also, it looks like they've made at least 2 of these cars; the earlier set of pictures showed a black interior, this one has white.

quote:

Originally posted by Candy2862:
Just figure out ( logically, economically, and from a marketing point of view ) that very special engine + some " homemade refinements" in a new Pantera, providing it has an up to date chassis, suspensions, aero and brakes ( it seems impossible to me that a new Pantera would have a lousy chassis...)
Conclusion : the best is yet to come, but you'll have to break your piggybag !

I can't wait to see how this all turns out. I am excited to see forward momentum. I am happy to see ANY car with a new Detomaso badge on it.

BTW, earlier reports of the car costing $175k appear to have been exaggerating.

At the auto show it has a window sticker with an €89.000 price tag.

I am very pleased that ghastly creation does not wear a De Tomaso insignia - that way it can never be associated with our beautiful Panteras and Mangustas.

I think if they market it for around £10,000 they might sell 2 or 3... But then again you can pick up a good Austin Maxi for £500.

If only they could make this http://www.globalmotors.net/ne...sed-on-the-gallardo/


Johnny

quote:

If only they could make this http://www.globalmotors.net/ne...sed-on-the-gallardo/

If they made that, I would sell everything to buy one, even my house. Not sure what I would do with the kids, but I'd figure something out.
Will

I'd sell Will's kids to get one (the Panthera Concept, not the Austin Maxi).

Mark