The new crop of ultra-exclusive supercars like the Aston Martin Valhalla and GMA T.33 will soon have competition from De Tomaso, which is close to unveiling the production version of its P72 supercar. It’s been six years since the revived Italian performance marque first showed a concept of the V8-powered stunner, so you won’t be blamed if you’ve forgotten it. The good news is that the wait for the production model is almost over. The covers will come off tomorrow.
To build excitement, De Tomaso recently posted a handful of teaser photos to its Facebook page, and judging from what’s shown, the production model will be almost identical to the concept first shown at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed. De Tomaso also teased the car last December, revealing it in its bare carbon-fiber body and completed interior.
The car to be revealed tomorrow will be used for final testing and certification before production of customer examples gets underway, expected later this year. Just 72 examples are destined to be built, and all build slots are allocated, despite an expected starting price of €1.6 million (approximately $1.78 million).
With a design this good, it’s little wonder the car is already sold out. Furthermore, the car will also have the power to back up those looks.
A Powertrain Shared With The Mustang
De Tomaso hasn’t provided an update on the specifications, but the company has previously confirmed the car will feature a bespoke carbon-fiber tub and generate around 750 horsepower from a supercharged V8, specifically a Roush-tuned 5.0-liter Coyote sourced from Ford. Recall that the original De Tomaso, founded in 1959 by Alejandro de Tomaso, also relied on Ford power, with the Blue Oval even temporarily owning the company.
This time around, De Tomaso is an independent company, but it has several partners for the P72. One of them is Germany’s HWA, the motorsports and engineering skunkworks founded by AMG co-founder Hans Werner Aufrecht. HWA, which also helped De Tomaso’s sister company Apollo with its Intensa Emozione supercar, is helping to engineer the P72 and has been tasked with building the cars.
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There was a previous plan to build the P72 in the U.S., but disruptions caused by the pandemic meant that the plan needed to be abandoned. Additional setbacks that have slowed the P72’s gestation have included redesigning its carbon tub from scratch (the original plan was to borrow an existing tub from Apollo) and swapping development partners. Prior to HWA, De Tomaso was working with fellow German engineering skunkworks Capricorn Group on the P72 project.
More Models In The Pipeline
The P72 is a road-going supercar, but it pays homage to a De Tomaso race car, the P70 sports prototype developed in partnership with Carroll Shelby and designed by Peter Brock. The P70 only had one race, the 1966 Mugello Grand Prix, and sadly retired on its opening lap.
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Interestingly, De Tomaso has also hinted at a more extreme version aimed at track enthusiasts. A separate model known as the P900 was shown in 2022 and confirmed to be in the works with the choice of V10 and V12 power. The company at the time said a production run of 18 units is planned, though there have been no further updates on the P900 since.
