If you’ve ever wondered why nobody has yet reimagined the De Tomaso Pantera – a completely legitimate thing to wonder, we feel – then you might want to bookmark Ares Design. Announced in 2017, ‘Project Panther’ was proposed as a modern take on the 1970s supercar, and now the firm has given it an update for 2021.
Its striking design has remained untouched, but Ares will now fit the Panther with an H-pattern gear selector that does its best to mimic the look and feel of a traditional manual. There’s also a less restrictive, valve-controlled X-pipe exhaust system, and a set of billet aluminum wheels, lighter, stronger, and now staggered in size – 20-inch at the front and 21 at the rear.
Led by Ares founder and CEO Dany Bahar – a name you may be familiar with from his not-entirely-successful time at the helm of Lotus – and technical director Matteo Vezzani, the company will build 21 examples of the carbonfibre-bodied supercar. Each will also get a carbonfibre and aluminium chassis, which will cradle the 650bhp, 413lb-ft Lamborghini-derived 5.2-litre V10 and a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission - 0-62mph is said to come in a brisk 3.1sec, with top speed at 201mph.
Ares Panther De Tomaso Pantera
Ares Panther De Tomaso Pantera
Designed, engineered and built in ARES’s Modena manufacturing facility, it will act as the company’s halo product. Previously responsible for one-off coachwork commissions on existing models like a two-door Bentley Mulsanne coupe and the distinctive Mercedes-AMG G 63-based X-Raid, the Panther ProgettoUno represents the most substantial project yet for the coachbuilder.
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