After being purchased over a month ago, De Tomaso once again finds itself with a new owner.
The once-storied Italian automaker is now in the hands of Consolidated Ideal TeamVenture, a consortium of Chinese investors based out of Hong Kong with its legal headquarters in the Virgin Islands, Europe Online Magazine reports. The consortium paid just over €1 million ($1.1 million USD) for De Tomaso at auction and has plans to build vehicles in China wearing the De Tomaso name.
The latest change in ownership comes after Swiss investment group L3 Holdings bought the name for €2 million ($2.2 million) last month, only to lose the rights when the group was investigated for failure to honor its financial commitments.
Other former De Tomaso owners include Gian Mario Rossignolo – who was arrested in 2012 for misuse of public funds in trying to revive the automaker – and Automobili Turismo e Sport, though the group later withdrew its bid.
[Photo credit: Jack Snell/Flickr/CC BY-ND 2.0]
Them wheels though.
I love Panteras, not sure I’d ever want to actually own and drive one though.
Two things
$1.1 million sounds like a bargain.
“…a consortium of Chinese investors based out of Hong Kong with its legal headquarters in the Virgin Islands,…” – Yeah. These guys sound less shady than the previous owners.
I had no idea they even still existed.
I keep thinking of George Peppard as suave insurance investigator Banacek being chauffeured around LA in a Pantera.
Still existed in name you mean… I would imagine there is not a whole lot left lying around the shop…
I only remember Banacek being chauffeured in a stretch limo, tho I think he sometimes drove himself around in an old Packard (I think). Being chauffeured in a Pantera would be pretty cramped.
I did think Panteras were the best looking sports cars around when I was a kid, altho I knew nothing about their tech specs.
ClutchCarGo, Packard with Darrin bodywork for much of the series. The joke about the appearance of the Pantera was that he was working out of town(a imaginary version of Boston, if you discount his rowing a shell down the Charles River often)and the Pantera was supposed to be a rental car!!! for the Banacek character when he worked away from home.
Don’t forget Tim Horton, too!
Not a done deal yet. They have to make payment by tomorrow, 01 May, in order for the deal to happen.
Oh yeah.. Chery ,Gili , Greatwall ,Dong Feng, Hupei, De Thomaso ,those names roll off the tongue so easily.
If you look around and you can Panteras at pretty good prices. And there’s tons of engine parts at least.
You can get a Pantera at a good price because the cars were never really fully cooked. I’ll admit that they were nice looking.
I always thought it was a shame the US didn’t get the DeTomaso Pantera GT5 and its wacky Countach body kit.
A friend of mine has one. They don’t drive as well as they look, and of course they have all the reliability you’d expect of an Italian, hand built, no-two-quite-the-same supercar of that era.