The 2020 De Tomaso P72 Represents Brand Revival Done Right

At a time when big-mouth designs are taking over the world, De Tomaso has blessed us with perhaps the most beautiful-looking car to have graced the Earth in decades. De Tomaso may not have had the most ideal run, but it is fondly remembered by enthusiasts. The Italian automaker has used the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed as a stepping stone to revive the iconic nameplate and remind you that it has turned 60 this year! DeTomaso did release a few teasers and videos before the launch of its upcoming supercar, but I must admit, this is much better than what I expected. Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you, the gorgeous P72!

The P72 Is A Masterpiece

De Tomaso has a rich heritage that is respected and adored by the auto community. So, when folks around the world heard about the Italian automaker making a comeback with a supercar that will be a limited- production vehicle, they were quite excited instead of verbally shooting it to the ground before it was even revealed. There are not many brands across the globe that barely have any haters to begin with. And, yet again, De Tomaso has shown us why. The company has revealed its latest creation, the P72, which pays homage to the unfinished prototype racer called the P70.

The P72 comes to the limelight at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed, and there couldn't have been a better time for it. It seems like the engineers had a lot of time to sculpt this beauty of a machine that seems like an amalgamation of the DNA of Ferrari, Alfa-Romeo, and Pagani. The P72 is still a little mysterious, but we do know that the chassis is made up of carbon fiber cells, carbon crash structures, and carbon mounts for the suspension. The chassis has been done by HWA AG motorsports company, which is the same company that worked on the Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR. The car is equally rich inside, with brown leather being used all around the cabin, subtle touches of chrome, and retro dials sticking behind the flat-bottom steering wheel. De Tomaso has yet to reveal what powers the P72, but we do know it will feature a mid-engine layout and a manual transmission!

This Is The Result Of An Unfinished Business

When these three joined hands, the result was going to be out-of-this world. The love child was of this collaboration was a prototype racecar with a De Tomaso chassis, a Shelby-built 289 cubic-inch Cobra V-8 engine, and a tear-drop exterior penned by Peter Brock. However, things went sour between the three and the project never saw the light of the day. Ghia later acquired the car and worked with De Tomaso to build the 'Ghia-De Tomaso Sport 5000' for the 1965 Turin Motor Show after the three went through a breakup.

Fast forward to 2014 and the brand has been revived by IdealVenture, a Hong Kong-based company run by Norman Choi that is also credited with the creation of Apollo Intense Emozione - a GT1 racecar-inspired V-12 engine supercar. Choi and his team decided to continue the heritage instead of building something crappy and slap it with the De Tomaso moniker. The team's dedication is clearly evident because instead of using De Tomaso's most famous creation to date, the Pantera, for brand recall, the company instead took a different approach. Choi and his team decided to give the P70 a well-deserved closure, and by the looks of it, did complete justice to the brand.

According to Choi, “We digested, we read, we studied. We learned more and more about Alejandro and the incredible achievements that he had attained. In reality, when most people hear the word DeTomaso, the only thing that comes to mind is the Pantera. This is a true icon and the most successful car of the brand. However, our approach is not solely product driven, it is driven by history and the brand.”

De Tomaso's History Is Nothing Short Of A Roller Coaster Ride

De Tomaso has built many models during its lifetime, but the most famous one was the Pantera. The De Tomaso Pantera was a mid-engined sports car that the company built in 1971 and 7,620 examples were produced through 1992. The Pantera was the quintessential successor to the Mangusta, De Tomaso's two-door sports car that lived from 1967 to 1971. 'Mangusta' is the Italian word for 'Mongoose'; an animal that can kill the Cobras. See where I'm going with this? De Tomaso basically took a dig at the Shelby Cobra which it was supposed to replace, but you know what happened between Carroll Shelby and De Tomaso.

This engine was mated to a notorious ZF Transaxle gearbox. Together, this combination could take the first-batch Pantera from a standstill to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds flat. As per the 1970s standards, this was mighty fast. In the United States, Ford sold the Pantera through its Lincoln dealerships. Ford later disassociated itself from De Tomaso, but not before the Italian automaker developed various iterations of the Pantera, such as the luxurious Pantera L, the Pantera GTS, and the Pantera SI.

The other models from the De Tomaso stable include the Vallelunga - the brand's first street-legal production car introduced in 1963, the Guara introduced in 1993, and the Bigua built in 1996. The company had multiple partners over the course of time, but none of them proved fruitful. To its credit, De Tomaso took Maserati under its wing as well, and even produced a car called the Maserati De Tomaso Kyalami. Interesting, right?

Final Thoughts

Coming back to the P72, only 72 examples of the same will be produced and will carry a price tag of €750,000, which is approximately $846,000. Despite the hefty price tag, the P72 is absolutely worth every penny, and I'm sure it will sell like hotcakes. Compare this to the Porsche 918 Spyder and you will realize that the De Tomaso P72 should have been priced much higher (No offense to the Porsche lovers). The P72 will debut at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed held between the 4th and 7th of July. What are your thoughts on the drool-worthy De Tomaso P72? Share them with us in the comments section below.