It has been six years since De Tomaso Automobili unveiled its P72 concept at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. That’s a long time in supercar years, and since then we’ve heard nary a peep from the reborn automaker, so you’d be forgiven if the P72 had faded from front of mind.
Today, however, the company has announced its production-spec P72, a car which pays homage to the P70 of 1965—one-off collaboration between Alejandro De Tomaso and Carroll Shelby intended for sports car racing, but which never got off the ground.
The new P72 is underpinned by a clean-sheet carbon fiber chassis that features a monocoque formed from a single, uninterrupted piece of carbon fiber free of any bonded sections. A shapely, full carbon fiber body sits atop it and can be painted in one of several heritage-inspired schemes—or left raw.
Central to the P72 experience is an analog element lost in most of today’s machinery. “Inside,” a company statement says, “the P72 rejects the digital age in favor of mechanical intimacy. The cockpit is free from screens, no infotainment, no overlays, no distractions. Instead, drivers are welcomed by traditional analogue dials, bespoke switchgear, and a cockpit shaped entirely around human connection.”
The cockpit is gorgeous, frankly, clad in hand-stitched leather with an exposed-linkage shifter in polished, machined metal at its center. That motif carries over to several elements of the cabin, from the steering hub to the gauge binnacles to the central and overhead knobs. A phone holder is included “for practicality,” but the P72 features no smartphone interface, and the only drive mode found in the car is the right pedal.
De Tomaso has a long history with V-8 power, and P72 does not break with tradition. Powering the car is a supercharged Ford 5.0-liter V-8 built by Roush, with forged internals and a throwback, 1960s-inspired header design. The engine produces 700 horsepower and 605 lb-ft of torque. Mated to a six-speed gearbox with short ratios, the company says “the powertrain is tuned not for top-speed performance, but for exhilarating in-gear performance, immediate, responsive, and emotionally rewarding.” Handling that power is a pushrod suspension system with three-way manually adjustable damping.
“The P72 was our promise to faithfully revive a historic marque,” says Norman Choi, CEO of De Tomaso Automobili, who acquired the company in 2014. “This first production-specification vehicle embodies everything we stand for: a mechanical soul, timeless beauty, and a driving experience that rises above modern convention. It is our echo through time—now made real.”
De Tomaso plans to produce just 72 copies of the car, and customer—or “custodian” as the company calls them—deliveries will begin in late 2025. A price tag has not been announced.
Report by Stefan Lombard
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