DeTomaso Pantera debuts with an automatic gearbox disguised as a manual

The motoring world has undergone all kinds of changes in recent years, bringing innovations that slowly settle in and others that struggle to take hold. Today it’s electric powertrains, fake exhausts and simulated sounds; but not long ago it was the wave of automatic gearboxes, a type of transmission that has been diligently adopted. However, there are cars like the DeTomaso Pantera, courtesy of coachbuilder Ares Design, which seeks to disguise this trend behind a simulated manual gearshift in the old style.

We acknowledge that the Italian coachbuilder has done a masterful design job in bringing the Pantera back to life. We can appreciate how it respects many original elements, skillfully carried into modern times, although that doesn’t stop us from focusing our full attention on an automatic gearbox that tries to mimic a manual gated shifter.

We don’t hold the existence of an automatic supercar against it, especially considering its ability to change gears quickly and effectively. Although our essence as hardened petrolheads makes us crave a manual DeTomaso Pantera, we “forgive” the presence of a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox inherited from the Lamborghini Huracán, the model it is based on.

What’s harder for us to overlook is that the gear selector has been designed as a manual gated shifter which, while fitting perfectly with the retro touch Ares Design has given it aesthetically, we don’t like the disguise it gives the automatic gearbox. Its nature as an automatic is already revealed by the large, imposing paddle shifters positioned behind the steering wheel.

Either way, the automatic gearbox offers, in the arrangement of a six-speed unit, “D”, “N”, sequential shifting for downshifting and upshifting, “P” and “R” respectively. Additionally, controlling it is the engine start/stop button, a superb naturally aspirated V10 that roars like few powerplants.

The whole package is at least attractive, so it is somewhat disheartening that they resorted to this solution. Call me picky, but a manual gearbox -entirely feasible with the 5.2-litre V10 from the Volkswagen Group- would make the DeTomaso Pantera even more complete. Anyway, first-world problems.