ATS Autosport's purchase of the DeTomaso name last November has given rise to speculation that the company is planning to bring back the DeTomaso brand. Well, according to Autocar, ATS has bigger plans that apparently also include the development of two other sports cars->ke506.

The 1960s Italian automaker has set its sights on returning to sports-car manufacturing and a pair of sports cars are already being discussed. One is the ATS Sport -- the two-seat, track-focused road car we first saw back in October 2012. With the building blocks already in place to revive this project, the £45,000 Sport is likely the easier one to build.

Meanwhile, the other model is billed as the ATS Leggera, a more retro-looking sports car that evokes memories of classic Italian supercars->ke177. The Leggera is expected to weigh just 650 kg (1,433 pounds) to go with a GM-sourced, 1.6-liter turbocharged engine that could develop anywhere between 210 and 300 horsepower.

In addition to the two planned models, ATS is also looking at a potential relaunch of the DeTomaso->ke27 brand with an eye towards possibly building a new Pantera sports car that would be based on the company's existing ATS 2500 GT.

The DeTomaso relaunch probably won't happen anytime soon, given the amount of work the company is planning to invest on developing its existing line. But never say never with that DeTomaso relaunch; after all, ATS didn't buy those rights just for the heck of it, right?

Click past the jump to read more about the De Tomaso Pantera.

De Tomaso Pantera

Expectations were high when news broke that the DeTomaso Pantera would make a comeback a few years ago. But nothing came from it, leaving a lot of us disappointed and disheartened.

The Pantera (Italian word for Panther) was a very successful sports car produced by De Tomaso between 1971 to 1991. It carried an iconic design that has really lasted the test of time, as far as we're concerned. Since its demise, many people have undoubtedly been dreaming of what a modern day Pantera would look like, and with news that ATS’ purchase of DeTomaso is moving forward, we’re all hoping that the Pantera comes back to life.

Can you imagine what kind of car it’s going to be? Remember, the original Pantera was powered by a V-8 engine with an output of 330 horsepower. In modern translation, that would likely put the Pantera closer to 600 horses, or more.

We know that it's still a long way away from ATS actually putting the work in to relaunch the Pantera, but hey, we can all dream, right?

Get it done, ATS Autosport! We’re all rooting for you!