Reborn supercar manufacturer De Tomaso will develop and produce its highly exclusive P72 supercar at a new, dedicated facility next to the Nürburgring.
The historic marque – which has been resurrected after going bankrupt in 2004 with backing from Hong Kong's IdealVenture, responsible for the Apollo Intense Emozione hypercar – will open the new headquarters this summer as part of a fresh partnership with motorsport engineering firm Capricorn Group.
Construction on the facility is under way ahead of the P72 entering the final stages of development later this year and customer deliveries starting in the first half of 2023.
The mid-engined P72 broke cover at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2019. The Pagani Huayra rival is styled with heavy inspiration from 1960s Italian supercars and features high-quality materials and intricate design details in line with its limited build run and $1,000,000 (£730,000) price.
The final product will retain the show car's 700bhp supercharged Ford V8 and six-speed manual gearbox, but the carbonfibre monocoque has been heavily revamped since 2019 and is now claimed to offer 100mm of extra leg room and 50mm more head room "without changing the exterior proportions of the vehicle".
CEO Ryan Berris told Autocar that "the powertrain has undergone extensive developments" but details of these modifications have not been made public.
The new chassis is claimed to boost safety credentials and quality standards (it meets FIA homologation requirements without the need for a roll cage) while revised suspension geometry brings the centre of gravity closer to the ground.
Production of the final P72 prototypes is progressing before new partner Capricorn begins building the 72 customer-bound cars - a build run that De Tomaso has no intention of extending.
Berris told Autocar: "We are fortunate and humbled to have been oversubscribed for the P72 and to be able to vet who is granted a final allocation."
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I cannot think of any " off the shelf defunct brand " restart-ups that have suceeded in the sports/ supercar arena for more than the briefest of moments. But if a relatively little expense in buying the trademark makes raising the big bucks an easier prospect good luck to them. But spare me the "heritage" bullshit. A Corgi Pantera has more lineage to fall back on.
Pretty car though, and different to the rest.
Nice to see a design with actual curves, reminds me of 1970'/80' Lemans racers like for instance the Ferrari 333P.
Looks suspiciously like an only-very-slightly restyled Lola T.70. Not much imagination in DeTomaso's design department, I think.