[DeTomaso] The New DeTomaso?

[Charles Engles]

                       “The New DeTomaso” ?

 

 

Geneva Auto Show and Dan Neil’s Observations and Electric Sports Cars  from
the WSJ  March 9, 2019

 

“Walking the aisles at the Geneva International Motor Show , I was having
déjà vu from before I was even born.  Some of the banners hanging from the
rafters of Palexpo convention center haven’t been seen in decades.  The
winner for Most Anachronistic: Hispano Suiza, the Spanish sporting and
luxury marque, summoned out of the historical ether and reimagined as a
“hyper-luxe” electric sports-car atelier.

 

At the Geneva show, the automobile’s glorious internal-combustion past was
being mined, repackaged, and repurposed to sell its electrified future; and
names of men who have been dead for decades were invoked to sell EVs as if
they were today’s angel investors.  

 

“The reason modern car companies go back to the past is to find legitimacy,
“said Silvio Pietro Angori, CEO of Pininfarina.  “I’m not a designer, I’m a
businessman.  I can tell you a brand is made up what a company does at its
best over a long period.  Some of these guy, they don’t have that.
Therefore, to find legitimacy, they have to go to the past, and not
necessarily their own past.”

Of course, if you are going to revel in history, it helps if it’s distant
history.

Battista “Pinin” Farina established a great carrosserie and design house in
Turin.  Among his triumphs was the pivotal Cisitalia 202GT Coupe (1947) and
truckloads of Ferraris.  After Battista died in 1966, the design firm
carried on and prospered, first under his son and then grandson.  In 2015,
the Indian conglomerate Mahindra Group bought Pinifarina to help with its
own car-building programs.

 

At the time Mahindra also authorized the company to build an electric
hypercar under the Automobili Pininfarina brand.  The result, first seen at
Geneva in production trim,  packs 1,847 hp and 1,696 pound-feet of torque
inside a carbon-monocoque missile that its maker say can accelerate to 180
mph in 11.8 seconds before topping out at 218 mph.”

 

My Half-Baked Thoughts

 

There have been many wishes and predictions of resurrection of DeTomaso
since it faded after the height of the Pantera years.   In this century,
there have already been a couple of tantalizing rumors and acquisitions of
the rights to the DeTomaso emblems, marque, etc.    If I recall correctly,
the Chinese currently own them . 

 

Now
. contemplate Dan Neil’s observations about E-sports car and hypercar
makers going shopping for legitimacy.   The latest riff on the old story of
the return of DeTomaso and a new Pantera might not have an internal
combustion engine.    It seems possible that some entity with an electric
sports car lacking in legitimacy could quickly buy it from the Chinese.
They could then spruce up the DeTomaso storyline and legacy.   They could
hire a graphic design firm to create the logos, emblems and badges for the
new electric twenty-first century DeTomaso sports cars.   The glory years of
Mangustas and Panteras and racing images would be hauled out and tweaked.
DeTomaso could rise from the ashes with a car so completely different from
what the Pantera cult has clamored for that there would be no good-will nor
continuity for the new E-tomaso by the old Pantera owners.   E-tomaso could
then forge ahead without the nuisance of assuaging the Panteraphiles and
market to a new generation and demographic.  That scenario would be
bittersweet.   I suppose that it would be nice for it to be a success, but I
am happy with mid-twentieth century sports cars and Ford 351 Clevelands.

 

                                 Warmest regards,  Chuck Engles

-------------- next part --------------


                          "The New DeTomaso" ?



   Geneva Auto Show and Dan Neil's Observations and Electric Sports Cars
   from the WSJ  March 9, 2019


   "Walking the aisles at the Geneva International Motor Show , I was
   having dej`a vu from before I was even born.  Some of the banners
   hanging from the rafters of Palexpo convention center haven't been seen
   in decades.  The winner for Most Anachronistic: Hispano Suiza, the
   Spanish sporting and luxury marque, summoned out of the historical
   ether and reimagined as a "hyper-luxe" electric sports-car atelier.


   At the Geneva show, the automobile's glorious internal-combustion past
   was being mined, repackaged, and repurposed to sell its electrified
   future; and names of men who have been dead for decades were invoked to
   sell EVs as if they were today's angel investors.


   "The reason modern car companies go back to the past is to find
   legitimacy, "said Silvio Pietro Angori, CEO of Pininfarina.  "I'm not a
   designer, I'm a businessman.  I can tell you a brand is made up what a
   company does at its best over a long period.  Some of these guy, they
   don't have that.  Therefore, to find legitimacy, they have to go to the
   past, and not necessarily their own past."

   Of course, if you are going to revel in history, it helps if it's
   distant history.

   Battista "Pinin" Farina established a great carrosserie and design
   house in Turin.  Among his triumphs was the pivotal Cisitalia 202GT
   Coupe (1947) and truckloads of Ferraris.  After Battista died in 1966,
   the design firm carried on and prospered, first under his son and then
   grandson.  In 2015, the Indian conglomerate Mahindra Group bought
   Pinifarina to help with its own car-building programs.


   At the time Mahindra also authorized the company to build an electric
   hypercar under the Automobili Pininfarina brand.  The result, first
   seen at Geneva in production trim,  packs 1,847 hp and 1,696 pound-feet
   of torque inside a carbon-monocoque missile that its maker say can
   accelerate to 180 mph in 11.8 seconds before topping out at 218 mph."


   My Half-Baked Thoughts


   There have been many wishes and predictions of resurrection of DeTomaso
   since it faded after the height of the Pantera years.   In this
   century, there have already been a couple of tantalizing rumors and
   acquisitions of the rights to the DeTomaso emblems, marque, etc.    If
   I recall correctly, the Chinese currently own them .


   Now.... contemplate Dan Neil's observations about E-sports car and
   hypercar makers going shopping for legitimacy.   The latest riff on the
   old story of the return of DeTomaso and a new Pantera might not have an
   internal combustion engine.    It seems possible that some entity with
   an electric sports car lacking in legitimacy could quickly buy it from
   the Chinese.  They could then spruce up the DeTomaso storyline and
   legacy.   They could hire a graphic design firm to create the logos,
   emblems and badges for the new electric twenty-first century DeTomaso
   sports cars.   The glory years of Mangustas and Panteras and racing
   images would be hauled out and tweaked.   DeTomaso could rise from the
   ashes with a car so completely different from  what the Pantera cult
   has clamored for that there would be no good-will nor continuity for
   the new E-tomaso by the old Pantera owners.   E-tomaso could then forge
   ahead without the nuisance of assuaging the Panteraphiles and market to
   a new generation and demographic.  That scenario would be
   bittersweet.   I suppose that it would be nice for it to be a success,
   but I am happy with mid-twentieth century sports cars and Ford 351
   Clevelands.


                                    Warmest regards,  Chuck Engles