De Tomaso's Geneva resurgence

Venerable Italian sports car marque set for a new lease of life... but this time its focus is more mainstream

Geneva International Motor Show

De Tomaso -- a once-iconic brand synonymous with brawny supercars -- is staging a Lazarus-like resurgence by revealing a crossover concept at this week's Geneva motor show.

Known for now as the SLS (for Sport Luxury Sedan) -- presumably with apologies to Mercedes-Benz -- the coupe-wagon-sedan-morphing design study will rival the likes of the BMW 5 Series GT and even Porsche's Panamera.

As per the Porsche and BeeEm, it will be offered with a choice of V6 and V8 propulsion, with power outputs of 221kW and 404kW respectively -- relayed to the tarmac via an all-wheel-drive system. There will also be a 182kW V6 diesel.

According to European reports, the revitalised De Tomaso is planning a three-model range comprising coupe, sedan and crossover body styles, all underpinned by an aluminium chassis.

The Pininfarina-penned SLS is set to go into production later this year, and the company is targeting build volumes of 3000 units per year. The showroom-spec model will be renamed, but it's not yet known what its moniker will be.

The sedan and coupe models are set to be unveiled further down the track, and the company plans to annually build 3000 units of the former and 2000 of the latter.

De Tomaso is perhaps best known for the muscular Pantera -- a mid-engined brute stuffed with a warmed-over Ford 351-cubic-inch Cleveland V8. It offered performance to match its contemporaries from Ferrari and Lamborghini, but it was a relatively crude device.

The company was founded in 1959 by Argentinian-born Alejandro de Tomaso, but it went bust in 2004 before being purchased from a bankruptcy court in 2009 by former Fiat exec Gianmario Rossignolo.

Rossignolo signed a deal with Pininfarina a month later to rent its Grugliasco plant, which has an assembly line, body shop and paint shop and employs 900 people. An investment of 116 million euros ($158m) has been earmarked for the project.

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