De Tomaso Saved... But At What Cost?
Italian manufacturer De Tomaso has had financial troubles for a number of years. They went under in 2004, and then again in 2008. After a Fiat executive bought them in 2009, a new lineup was announced; weirdly it included a crossover and a limousine. This did not sound promising, and the brand effectively went bankrupt once more in 2012.
The most recent developments made us hope for a better future for the storied brand: a conglomerate of Swiss investors won the bid and were supposed to take over the company’s assets a few months ago.
However, things did not go as smoothly as we thought it would; those investors didn’t manage to raise the required amount, and the second best bid has won the right to buy De Tomaso for 1.05 million euros, or 1.4 million in Canadian dollars. Therefore, the brand’s new owner is Ideal TeamVenture, a Chinese conglomerate.
According to their lawyer, they are intent on building vehicles back in their home market.
This isn’t exactly good news for the 900 employees of the Italian firm in Turin, who were anxiously awaiting to see if they would start production again.