The De Tomaso P72 Is Finally Ready For Production
Itās been just under six years since we first saw the dramatic, retrofuturist lines of the De Tomaso P72, the first car from a revived version of ItalyāsĀ otherĀ esoteric Argentine-founded low-volume supercar maker. Youād be forgiven for wondering if weād ever see it hit production, but hit production it has, and the car you see before you is the finished article.
It looks pretty much identical to that first concept car we saw in those distant days of 2019, with its looks inspired by the 1965 De Tomaso P70, a one-off open-top sports racer that mated a chassis developed by De Tomaso with a tuned Ford V8 engine from legendary tuner Carroll Shelby.
De Tomaso P72 – side
The P72 features a similar pairing ā sitting in the middle of the car is a 5.0-litre Ford V8, bolstered by a supercharger and forged internals. It produces 690bhp and 605 lb ft, and while itās sad to lose the screaming Ferrari-based V12 that powered the prototypes, we canāt be too sad about the substitute, especially when itās hooked up to a six-speed manual gearbox with a gorgeous exposed linkage.
The early prototypes used the V12 because they were based on the underpinnings of the ludicrous Apollo Intensa Emozione, the two companies sharing ownership. The production P72, though, is built around a bespoke carbon fibre chassis with a one-piece monocoque at its core. Hung off it is a pushrod suspension system with manually adjustable three-way dampers.
De Tomaso P72 – rear detail
Like with so many other low-volume supercars these days, the word āanalogueā pops up a lot in De Tomasoās material around the car. That applies to the interior in the most literal sense, which does away with the de rigueur digital instruments of modern cars for a set of analogue dials.
In fact, thereās not even an infotainment screen to be found in here, although De Tomaso has included a phone holder so you can run your nav and your tunes. Everything in here is said to be hand-crafted, from the stitching on the leather to the milling of the aluminium components.
De Tomaso P72 – interior
There are no drive modes to fiddle around with, either, and that āanalogueā mission statement is perhaps also why De Tomaso hasnāt quoted any performance figures, saying only that āthe powertrain is tuned not for top-speed dominance, but for exhilarating in-gear performance.ā
This launch car isnāt one of the 72 planned production units, but an internal production-spec car showing off one of the available āheritage-inspiredā paint schemes. If theyāre a little old-hat, customers can also spec the bodywork in bare carbon.
De Tomaso P72 – rear
Speaking of customers, the P72 is sold out, and has been since 2023. Those extremely patient souls can expect to finally start receiving their cars later in 2025, although with each car reportedly starting at around ā¬1.6 million (around Ā£1.35 million), weāre sure theyāve had enough money to tide them over in the meantime.
