De Tomaso Deauville Concept, 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

• De Tomaso Deauville Concept, 2011

Pininfarina welcomes the De Tomaso Deauville styling model on its stand at Geneva. For the glorious brand founded in Modena in 1959 by Argentine racing driver Alejandro De Tomaso, which has been brought back to life thanks to efforts of businessman Gian Mario Rossignolo, Pininfarina has designed a 5-door Sport Luxury Sedan, with an aluminium chassis and four-wheel drive. A complete product that embodies high technology and craftsmanship, combining luxury and love for engines with a decisive modern approach to design.

The project was launched at the end of 2009, when Pininfarina S.p.A. drew up with De Tomaso Automobili SpA (formerly Innovation Auto Industry S.p.A. - IAI) a company chaired by Gian Mario Rossignolo, the definitive agreement for the sale of a branch of the company that included the manufacturing plant of Grugliasco (Turin). The two companies also agreed that the first model to be produced by the reborn De Tomaso company would be designed by Pininfarina.

From the very first stages of the design process, De Tomaso and the Pininfarina design team set themselves the target of exploring new territory and creating a new market niche, developing a Sport Luxury Sedan for an exclusive clientele, designed and developed with the utmost luxury.

Luxury is not a coincidence: the development of the De Tomaso Deauville hinges on exploiting the concept of quality products that are "Made in Italy", reviving and refining in the present the characteristics of beauty and craftsmanship that are inherent in the Italian manufacturing heritage. All the cars are "custom-built" and the assembly of the details is guaranteed by the manual skills of De Tomaso specialist craftsmen. Each De Tomaso Deauville is therefore unique and self-sufficient.

But the luxury is not only embodied in the artisan construction. In addition to the Pininfarina design, the car also boasts a high technological content that puts it ahead of its time. The De Tomaso Deauville is manufactured using the innovative UNIVIS technology, which means that the bodyshell is assembled using aluminium extruded sections joined together by crossbeams that are pressed, trimmed by laser and welded. This new technology, developed and patented by IAI (Innovation in Auto Industry), the parent company of the De Tomaso group, makes it possible to drastically reduce the times and investment necessary to design a car, because the number of dies is drastically reduced to a few dozen.

The Pininfarina team tackled the design of the De Tomaso Deauville by first carrying out a historical analysis of the De Tomaso brand, and focusing on the stylistic elements that have characterised earlier models like the Mangusta or the Pantera. The challenge was to imagine a completely new type of car without distorting such an important heritage, but also to firmly avoid turning it into an exercise in nostalgia.

The result is a car that has no equal in today's car market. A sporty, seductive saloon of a considerable size (height 1630 mm, length 5080 mm, width 1950 mm), with clean, elegant lines, a decisive and immediately recognisable character and a sporty feel that is reflected on the motorist as a pleasant driving experience, while guaranteeing performance, safety, roominess, maximum comfort and all the options one would expect on a luxury saloon.

The resolution of the front is expressed by the personality of the large hexagonal grille that urges forward, transmitting assertiveness and sportiness, and reflecting the car's potential for performance, while the front light clusters, which slip towards the sides of the car, underline its dynamism. The hexagon, which harks back to motifs dear to De Tomaso history, is repeated on the side of the car (air outlet, front wing and shape of windows) and in the design of the rear light clusters. Another leitmotif runs through the car: the three upper wings of the grille, which are reiterated in the direction indicator on the front headlight and continue in the side repeater and the rear light.