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De Tomaso Automobili Limited formally De Tomaso Automobili S.p.A. was founded in 1959 by Argentine racing driver Alejandro De Tomaso, De Tomaso Automobili company was built on a simple yet powerful idea: to create high-performance sports cars that combined the romance of Italian styling with precision engineering.  De Tomaso road cars first appeared at the 1963 Motor Show in Turin Italy. Today, the De Tomaso Automobili portfolio consists of  P72 and the P900 supercars.

Categories
De Tomaso Archive 3 (2023-2015)
De Tomaso Archive 1 (1995-1963)
Websites
detomaso-automobili.com

De Tomaso Automobili S.p.A. History

De Tomaso Automobili Ltd. is an Italian car-manufacturing company. It was founded by the Argentine-born Alejandro de Tomaso in Modena in 1959. It originally produced various prototypes, sports and racing cars, including a Formula One car.

Alejandro De Tomaso made his debut as a Formula One driver on 13 January 1957. After his years of racing with Maserati and Osca, he set up his own company to create thoroughbred automobiles, and for this purpose he chose Italy, the home of car design and technology. In 1959 he unveiled a Formula Junior and a Formula One model. Modena, the capital of the world’s most illustrious racing cars, Ferrari and Maserati, was to host another automotive legend. In later years, De Tomaso also created chassis for the Frank Williams racing team.

After four years producing racing cars, De Tomaso shifted his attention to the world of road cars. The company entered the field with the Vallelunga, which was received with acclaim at the 1963 Motor Show in Turin. The Mangusta was unveiled in 1967. Alejandro made his definitive mark in 1971 with the Pantera, which remained in production for two decades. Groups of enthusiasts began to spring up, especially in the United States, and the De Tomaso Pantera became a legend in the world of sports cars.

In 1971, Ford acquired an 84% stake in De Tomaso from Rowan with Alejandro de Tomaso himself holding the balance. Ford would sell back their stake in the automaker in 1974 to Alejandro.

The Pantera appeared in 1971 with a 351 Cleveland Ford V8 and a low, wedge-shaped body designed by Ghia’s Tom Tjaarda. Through an agreement with Ford, De Tomaso sold Panteras in the USA through Ford’s Lincoln and Mercury dealers. Between 1971 and 1973. 6,128 Panteras were produced in Modena, the largest number of cars De Tomaso produced. De Tomaso retained the right to produce the car outside of USA, Pantera production fewer than 100 cars per year during the 1970s and 1980s. From then on, the cars were largely hand-built and was finally phased out in 1993.

Even though it was known mainly for its sports cars, the nascent luxury market became De Tomaso’s next great challenge. In 1971 came the Deauville, a powerful, much-celebrated four-door car, and this was followed by the Longchamp coupè. Even though the comfort offered by these models was on a par with that of the greatest international competitors, their rare allure added an extra touch to the luxury driving experience.

De Tomaso Guarà began production in 1993, the Guarà was available in coupé and barchetta versions. In the early 2000s two other cars were planned by De Tomaso, but both proved abortive. De Tomaso went into voluntary liquidation in June 2004 after the death of Alejandro de Tomaso in 2003.

De Tomaso went into liquidation in 2004, although production of new cars continued after this date. By 2008 a buyer was being sought for the De Tomaso trademarks, as per the court-appointed liquidators. The company was bought by Gian Mario Rossignolo in 2009. A new business plan for the company called for producing three models for a total of 8,000 vehicles: 3,000 crossovers, 3,000 limousines, and 2,000 two-seater sports cars.

In May 2012, De Tomaso was again for sale after their business plan failed to gather sufficient financial backing. In July 2012, Gian Mario Rossignolo was arrested following allegations that he misused million worth of government funds.

In 2014, the original De Tomaso workshop in Modena was in abandonment.

In April 2015, an Italian bankruptcy court approved the sale of the company to Hong Kong-based investment fund called Ideal Team Venture for just over 1 million euros. Ideal Team won a bidding auction carried out by a the Turin bankruptcy judge, who has given the fund until May 1 to put forward the cash for the purchase. Ideal Team’s competitor in the bankruptcy auction L3 Holdings won the first bidding round in March, but the auction had to be re-done when L3 failed to honor its financial commitments. Milan-based lawyer Giampaolo Salsi, who represented the Chinese buyer, told Italian media earlier this week that Ideal Team plans to manufacture cars under the De Tomaso brand in China. Industry observers are skeptical about whether the deal will be completed. Ideal Team may be the fourth in a line of buyers attracted by De Tomaso’s heritage that do not manage to close a deal. Ideal Team Venture is the parent company of De Tomaso Automobili Limited.

In 2022, De Tomaso unveiled its first product, the P72 retro-styled sports car.

December, 2023

According to PitchBook who has headquartered in Hong Kong, De Tomaso Automobili General Information is below,

Ideal Team Venture
Unit 301, Building 22E,
Hong Kong Science Park,
Shatin, Hong Kong

De Tomaso Automobili Executive Team;
[ Norman Choi – President & Chief Executive Officer ],[ Ryan Berris – Chief Executive Officer & Chief Marketing Officer],[ Peter Arnell – Chief Innovation Officer ], [ Elizabeth Haskell – Co-Founder ]

  • The company’s domain name registration is Private Registration.
  • The company’s website has no press or basic information on about them or contact details other than;
    • Terms & Conditions: The term ‘De Tomaso’ or ‘us’ or ‘we’ refers to the owner of the website whose registered office is Unit 301, Building 22E, Hong Kong Science Park, Shatin, Hong Kong.
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