Former Argentinean racing driver Alejandro de Tomaso moved to Italy in the late-1950s and started to build racing cars. In 1967, De Tomaso branched out into production cars with the Mangusta. Like most subsequent models this was powered by a Ford V8 engine. The company’s staple product, the Pantera, followed in 1970, and was soon joined by saloon and coupé counterparts, the Deauville and Longchamps.

In the 1970s De Tomaso acquired Maserati and Innocenti, though the former was sold off in 1993. Despite several attempts, no successful replacement models were developed, and in 2004 the company went into liquidation.