De Tomaso
 |
|
| Private | |
| Industry | Automotive industry |
| Fate | sold |
| Founded | 1959 |
| Founder | Alejandro de Tomaso |
| Defunct | 2015 |
| Headquarters | Modena, Italy |
|
Area served
|
Worldwide |
| Products | Performance automobiles |
| Subsidiaries |
Maserati (1976-93) Moto Guzzi (1973-2000) |
| Website | www |
De Tomaso Modena SpA was an Italian car-manufacturing company. It was founded by the Argentine-born Alejandro de Tomaso (1928–2003) in Modena in 1959. It originally produced various prototypes and racing cars, including a Formula One car for Frank Williams' team in 1970. Most of the funding for the automaker came from de Tomaso's brother-in-law's, Armory Haskell Jr, Rowan Industries. In 1971, Ford acquired an 84 per cent 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 blue and white stripes of the logo's background are the colors of the national flag of Argentina. The symbol in the foreground that looks like a letter "T" is the cattle branding symbol of the Ceballos estate where Alejandro grew up.
The company went on to develop and produce both sports cars and luxury vehicles, most notably the Ford-powered Italian-bodied Mangusta and Pantera gran turismos. From 1976 to 1993 De Tomaso owned Italian sports car maker Maserati, and was responsible for producing cars including the Biturbo, the Kyalami, Quattroporte III, Karif, and the Chrysler TC. De Tomaso also owned motorcycle company Moto Guzzi from 1973 to 1993.
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 factory and trademarks, as per the court-appointed liquidators. In 2009 Gian Mario Rossignolo bought the De Tomaso trademark and founded a new company named De Tomaso Automobili SpA. Rossignolo planned to assemble chassis and bodies in one of Delphi Automotive’s old production facilities in Livorno and to fit bodywork, paint and finish its cars in the former Pininfarina factory in Grugliasco.
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Wikipedia