[DeTomaso] Latest DeTomaso Rumor

[Julian Kift]

I reckon it's someone's idea for getting discussion going on the list! I'd love to see a new modern Pantera replacement but  analyzing what has been posted publicly online regarding this venture just doesn't seem to stack up. 

Here's what I got from the online postings;

200 people have committed to a car that will be priced $275k to $325k without as much as seeing a prototype? Firstly, who pays $275k+ for a pseudo copy of a car that is available for $200-250k for the original? I would think an original GT5-S still has some investment upside, but a Chinese knock off?

At $275k+ it is competing with some real exotics and an 2005/6 Ford GT can be had for the cost of this new Dim Sun Tomaso. Equally a good Pantera and 5S steel kit can be had and installed for half of the cost.

With the investment required for a true structural carbon fiber body, I have to thin this will be a space frame with composite panels i.e. a modern rendition of a Long & Newman Pantera! I wonder wether it will even be with lightweight autoclave structural panels or just a carbon overlay like the decklids available today?

So apparently the new GT5-S will use a Ricardo 6 speed, a discontinued gearbox no longer supported by the manufacturer and which is currently fetching a premium for the Ford GT guys due to almost zero availability and no spares! Yet 325 new Pantera's will be built with one. We know from current projects that the Ricardo does not fit between the frame rails which require widening, but apparently this new GT5-S will be 8 inches longer in the rear than the original to accommodate the power train?

All that expense and it still has an old school Roush motor and no flappy paddle shifter, what is the attraction? Many US modifiers are taking more modern engines and dropping them into Pantera's to get modern reliability. Any manufacturer of sanity who did their marketing homework would likely be going with a Coyote (or better still a Voodoo) engine. 

Who is it going to appeal to? I don't believe a Chinese focused market would be building in S. Africa. 

Safety testing is being carried out in South Africa, which bears no meaning in the US. If brought in as a 'roller' less engine and gearbox as Superformance does then it would have to be offered for sale and titled as a self assembled vehicle. Surely that would leave choice of power train up to the individual purchaser? A manufacturer assembled car would need to meet stringent safety and emissions standards especially one assembled in the great republic of California!

All that said Steve Wilkinson is an astute business man so maybe something got lost in translation, it sure would be nice for him to clear the air with a statement.

Julian


> On Apr 24, 2017, at 12:46 PM, Larry Finch via DeTomaso <detomaso at server.detomasolist.com> wrote:
> 
> All,
> 
> The ‘new’ Chinese logo is the same one the Italian scam artists, the ones taken to court for fraud, introduced.
> 
> So nothing new there. Old news repackaged.
> 
> 
> I, like many owners, are linked into numerous car-guy blogs, websites and media reports. How can such a project, (remember, with 200 cars already spoken for), possibly have avoided any previous announcement yet have so many pre-availability purchasers?  With just one “known” prototype, but no public photos, no press releases, and nothing of this project previously posted in the POCA and PIBB forums, HOW are we supposed to believe that 200 …TWO HUNDRED… of this imaginary car have already been spoken for?
> 
> 
> I’ll believe the reality off this Chinese Pantera about the same time I have a nuclear-powerred flying car parked in my driveway.
> 
> 
> NOT holding my breath…..
> 
> Larry
> 
> 
> 
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