De Tomaso files for bankruptcy

Another small automaker is heading to bankruptcy court in less than a week with the report that De Tomaso has run out of cash and credit. When Artega filed for bankruptcy last week, we felt a bit of a twinge since the German firm has a cool little sports car that just never really got going. And although we're not happy about De Tomaso name plowing into that financial brick wall again, perhaps this time terminally, if it means the end of the ungainliness that was the Deauville resurrection seen above, then we'll accept it.

At the end of 2011, it was reported that Gian Mario Rossignolo, the former Fiat executive who took over De Tomaso, had sold the rights to build the Deauville to a Chinese company and that he had raised millions of euros to build a new Pantera sports car. We don't know how much of that report didn't come true, but Rossignolo's aims couldn't get over the hurdles of too many words, not enough funds, and one regrettable crossover. If any company does buy what's left of the De Tomaso name, it should take this as lesson number one for its new model business plan: start with the Pantera.

News Source: Cars UK

Image Credit: Copyright 2012 Noah Joseph/AOL