Qvale

About Qvale

Qvale ( kə-VAHL-ee) was an independent car manufacturer founded in 2000 by Bruce Qvale, the son of businessman Kjell Qvale. Based in Modena, Italy, Qvale's sole product was the Mangusta, originally the De Tomaso Biguà. Kjell Qvale founded British Motors in 1947 in San Francisco, California and was a well known importer of European luxury cars. He was the first distributor for Jaguar on the U.S. West Coast and one of the founders of the San Francisco Auto Show. Alejandro de Tomaso, an Italian car manufacturer with Argentine roots, had chosen the Biguà to revive his brand. The car was designed by Marcello Gandini, a designer for Lamborghini and Maserati. The Biguà was shown for the first time in 1996, in Geneva. 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 De Tomaso Biguà was renamed the Mangusta, a historic name (see De Tomaso Mangusta). 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.