The long-awaited De Tomato P72 hypercar is finally going into production. The model will roll off the assembly line starting in the second half of 2024, five years after it made its debut.
De Tomaso has been giving us glimpses of the P72 for years with really not much information about the approximate date it would enter production. Fans started believing it was beginning to look like a car that would forever remain a project forgotten on some shelf in the offices of the company. However, now, it is finally happening.
The last time we heard anything about the P72 was in May 2022, when a prototype was on display at the Concourse d'Eleganza Villa d'Este in Italy, parading in a spectacular baby blue.
It was also taken to Florida for The Amelia and Miami Concours. But that was three years after De Tomaso debuted the prototype at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on the brand's 60th anniversary.
The model is based on the underpinnings of the Apollo Intensa Emozione, limited to only ten examples, and is powered by a Ford-sourced, mid-mounted 5.0-liter V8 supercharged Coyote engine that delivers 691 horsepower (700 metric horsepower). The power plant is mated to a six-speed manual transmission.
Photo: De Tomaso
The P72 was originally scheduled to enter production in 2022, with deliveries set to commence sometime in 2023. However, the company delayed both production and deliveries for 2024.
The De Tomaso P72 is built around a carbon fiber monocoque chassis and is constructed to LMP 1 standards. With curvy, smooth lines and a teardrop glasshouse architecture, the P72 is also inspired by the racing cars that participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans at that time. Is it us or does it really resemble the Ferrari P4?
The P72 sports retro styling, with design cues inspired by the 1965 De Tomaso P70 concept car, which was a collaboration between Carroll Shelby and Alejandro de Tomaso, the founder of the company. The two of them displayed the concept that year at the Turin Motor Show.
The cabin of the P72 is extremely sophisticated and elegant. Quilted leather covers the seats and door cards. Diamond-patterned aluminum covers the center of the steering wheel and gear lever.
To keep the model as exclusive as possible, only 72 such examples will see the light of day. Back in 2019, De Tomaso came up with a price starting at $890,000 before taxes and options.
The first P72 will most likely be delivered in the fall of 2024. Unless anything happens to the brand again. De Tomaso was founded in 1959 in Modena, went racing in the 1970s with the car built for Frank Williams and his Formula 1 team, went bankrupt in 2004, was resuscitated by Hong Kong-based IdealVenture in 2014, and is now striving to return to the market with the P72 hypercar.
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