| 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. |
