What is thought to be the new Pantera leaving the De Tomaso facility
It’s being reported that the new De Tomaso Pantera will arrive at Frankfurt sporting a 600bhp GM lump and weighing in at 1200kg.
So far all we’ve officially had from the new De Tomaso, now run by ex Fiat man Gian Mario Rossignolo, is the not particularly well-received De Tomaso Deauville at Geneva in the Spring.
It seemed an odd route for the revived De Tomaso to go, and an odd choice of name. The Deauville seems to be halfway between the (poor-selling) BMW 5-Series GT and a Porsche Cayenne.
All wrapped up in a not very appealing body with the name of an XJ-based De Tomaso saloon car attached. Perhaps not the most auspicious beginning.
But next up is the new De Tomas Pantera. And that’s as close as De Tomaso comes to an icon, so Signor Rossignolo needs to be very careful with this one. A De Tomaso SUV with the wrong name attached is one thing, but blow the recreation of the Pantera and he’d have been better off starting from scratch than buying up the De Tomaso assets.
We’ve already seen spy video of the De Tomaso Pantera (although there are those who think it was the same car that we all thought was a new disguised Lotus a few years ago), and it didn’t look too promising.
Whatever the new Pantera looks like, we’re told it’s going to be light – around 1200kg – and will get a 600bhp GM lump. So we’re guessing the ubiquitous LS2 lump has been pressed in to service. Which is good; the Pantera is supposed to be American Muscle and Italian Style.
All will be revealed at Frankfurt.
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