De Tomaso, best known for the midengine Pantera yet still kicking in 2020 with its P72 model supposedly on the way, says that it is moving to the U.S. De Tomaso has long been based in Modena, Italy. It says the move to the U.S. is to save the American auto industry, or something.
I will quote directly from De Tomaso’s press release:
De Tomaso Automobili’s clarion call to those passionate about American automotive design that the time has come to restore the romance, beauty, passion and elegance in the luxury American automotive industry.
Declaring that it can wait no longer for the American automobile industry to recapture its ‘glory days,’ and seeking to inspire all generations, De Tomaso is moving its core operations – including production, design and corporate facilities – from Europe to the U.S.
Frankly, I respect the chutzpah of De Tomaso in unilaterally declaring the American auto industry to be garbage and saying that only De Tomaso can save it. Who knows if this will actually ever happen, given that De Tomaso is light on details, but this will all have been worth it for this press release alone.
Discussions are already well underway with multiple states to serve as potential locations for our American facilities. A formal announcement about these locations is expected in the next six months.
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Driven by the void we’ve seen over the past several decades, powered by our passion and what we see as our responsibility, this notion has been under consideration and part of our long-term plan for quite some time. De Tomaso has always been known as a bold European-American brand and this marks the next chapter of our historic journey.
As demonstrated by Mission AAR and our modus operandi, De Tomaso has never – and will never – occupy the status quo. De Tomaso seeks to shake complacency and spark a new pursuit of excellence.
Does this press release also contain a random shoutout to Elon Musk? You bet!
De Tomaso seeks to partner with our bold-thinking peers in America as we have for decades. We have long-respected the American greats; the accomplishments of pioneers such as Elon Musk and Tesla have been simply exceptional.
In his statement, De Tomaso chairman Norman Choi identifies the “golden-age” of the car in the U.S. to be the 1920s to 1960s, which, hmm, lots of people would quibble with!
The approximately $846,000 P72 will be hand-built somewhere here, the company says, with just 72 examples planned and orders already “oversubscribed.” Production will start in the fourth quarter of 2022, De Tomaso says. We’ll see how this goes but it’s hard not to be more than a little skeptical.