Qvale ( ) was an independent car manufacturer founded in 2000 by Bruce Qvale, the son of businessman Kjell Qvale. Based in

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

, Italy, Qvale's sole product was the

Mangusta The De Tomaso Mangusta is a sports car produced by Italian automobile manufacturer De Tomaso between 1967 and 1971. It was succeeded by the De Tomaso Pantera. History The Mangusta replaced the Vallelunga model, on which its chassis was based ...

, originally the

De Tomaso De Tomaso Automobili Ltd. (previously known as De Tomaso Modena SpA) is an Italian car-manufacturing company. It was founded in 1959 by Alejandro de Tomaso in Modena. It originally produced various sports prototypes and auto racing vehicles, incl ...

Biguà. Kjell Qvale founded British Motors in 1947 in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, California and was a well known importer of European luxury cars. He was the first distributor for

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

on the U.S. West Coast and one of the founders of the San Francisco Auto Show. Qvale Mangusta 2001

Alejandro de Tomaso Alejandro de Tomaso (10 July 1928 in Buenos Aires – 21 May 2003 in Modena, Italy) was an Argentine racing driver and businessman. His name is sometimes seen in an Italianised form as Alessandro de Tomaso. He participated in two Formula One World ...

, an Italian car manufacturer with

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

roots, had chosen the Biguà to revive his brand. The car was designed by

Marcello Gandini Marcello Gandini (26 August 1938 – 13 March 2024) was an Italian Automotive design, car designer widely known for his work with the Italian car design house Gruppo Bertone, Bertone, where his work included designing the Alfa Romeo Carabo and A ...

, a designer for

Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. ( , ), usually referred to as Lamborghini or colloquially Lambo, is an Italian manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its su ...

and

Maserati Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914 in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Ma ...

. The Biguà was shown for the first time in 1996, in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. Financial troubles forced De Tomaso to look for a business partner whom he found in the American Bruce Qvale, an importer and distributor of a number of exclusive cars in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The De Tomaso Biguà was renamed the

, a historic name ''(see

De Tomaso Mangusta The De Tomaso Mangusta is a sports car produced by Italian automobile manufacturer De Tomaso between 1967 and 1971. It was succeeded by the De Tomaso Pantera. History The Mangusta replaced the Vallelunga model, on which its chassis was based ...

)''. As the first cars were about to be delivered, Qvale and De Tomaso parted ways. Qvale took over the factory and the car's production. De Tomaso, however, refused to allow the use of his name. The first Mangustas were delivered to their customers with De Tomaso badges, which subsequently had to be exchanged at the dealers for the now-official Qvale logos. Between 2000 and 2002, Qvale built 284 cars, the majority of which were exported to the USA. The lack of a well-known brand name, the slowing economy, and the unusual design made marketing the car difficult. In 2003, Qvale sold the rights to the Mangusta to Britain's

MG Rover Group MG Rover Group was a British carmaker that existed between 2000 and 2005. It was the last domestically owned mass-production car manufacturer in the British motor industry. The company was formed when BMW sold the car-making and engine manufac ...

. In 2004, MG launched the

MG SV The MG XPower SV is a sports car that was produced by British automobile manufacturer MG Rover. Manufactured in Modena, Italy and finished at Longbridge plant, Longbridge, United Kingdom, it was based on the platform of the Qvale Mangusta, for ...

and SVR. Designed by MGSR (MG Sport & Racing, the racing division of the MG Rover Group), the SV was based on the structure, suspension, engine and gearbox of the Mangusta. The car was built largely in Italy, with some fitting and pre-delivery customisation in the UK.

References

British Motor Car Distributors HistoryQvale Website (Archive, last snapshot)

External links

{{De Tomaso Sports car manufacturers Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Italy Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers