Indian Investor To Help Revive De Tomaso Car Brand - Source

Italian entrepreneurs have found an Indian partner to invest EUR100 million in a project to revive De Tomaso, a defunct luxury car brand, a person familiar with the matter said Monday.

The entrepreneurs, Gianmario Rossignolo and his son Gianluca, have signed an agreement with an institutional investor, whose identity they will announce next month, the person told Dow Jones Newswires, confirming an earlier report on a local newspaper's website.

The investment would help them develop three models at two sites in Italy: Turin and Livorno.

The Rossignolos took part in the 2009 purchase of the site in Turin from Pininfarina SpA (PINF.MI), the troubled car designer and niche manufacturer that is working with French industrialist Vincent Bollore on an electric car.

Rossignolo is known for having been chairman of Telecom Italia SpA (TIT.MI) more than 10 years ago.

The investment from India would come at a time when the car industry faces the prospect of a decline in demand in Europe due to consumer concerns about the debt crisis.

But luxury car makers like Ferrari haven't seen their sales suffer, thanks to strong demand from China and other emerging markets for vehicles that are fast and expensive.

-By Gilles Castonguay, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]