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“We are placing Adamastor at the pinnacle of automotive technology.”
PORTO, Portugal, November 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Ricardo Quintas is one of the founders of Adamastor, currently serving as CEO of the Portuguese supercar brand based in Porto. A brand that, starting from a blank sheet of paper and investing in a team that combines experience with new talents, as well as technology and tools developed internally with cutting-edge digital solutions, aims to design, develop and market a high-performance supercar scheduled to hit the market already in 2025.
There will certainly be many more questions to ask and it will be no less certain that the man who gave birth to Adamastor will have much more to tell about this dream that is now materializing. However, as a result of just over a dozen questions, Ricardo Quintas reveals the lines that stitch together the present and future of a car manufacturer that represents, not only, but above all, a lot of passion.
How was Adamastor born and how has it evolved to date?
Adamastor emerged in 2015 following an initial objective of fostering partnerships between the academic world and the business world aiming to develop new technologies with a completely Portuguese signature. The research carried out by universities would, within the scope of this project, be subsidized by companies. Adamastor is the final product of this idea, of bringing together two inseparable, but sometimes somewhat distant, aspects. The development of an automobile was the path chosen for this purpose.
How was the Adamastor team formed? How many elements do you currently have?
The team began by being formed by the partners. For me and Nuno Faria. Later, Frederico Ribeiro and Ricardo Ribeiro joined us. At a later stage, we called other engineers and mechanics from universities, or those we already knew, to join the company’s ranks. The recruitment of reinforcements has always followed the needs for evolution and the acquisition of new technical knowledge. Half of the team is made up of former students who graduated from the university and the other half is made up of specialized technicians with extensive experience acquired in the market. We also establish partnerships with INEGI and FEUP to strengthen our technical capacity and thus go further. The Adamastor team is currently made up of fourteen members.
Why does it make sense to launch a supercar brand and not a more generalist, volume brand?
A volume brand required much greater investment in several areas. We would have to compete with Renault, Citroën, or FIAT and it would require the construction of huge factories. And then there is the issue of price. I would be forced to propose something truly cheap to enter the market. Therefore, we decided to invest in a niche sector, a rare, unique, technologically advanced product, in which price is not an issue, but rather exclusivity and
performance. With this investment we are placing Adamastor at the pinnacle of automotive technology, producing it by hand, away from large volumes. I recently visited Ferrari and learned that they have the capacity to produce 61 cars per day. But our goal is to produce 25 cars per year and for each of them to be made exclusively by one team, from start to finish. The customer thus knows the people who built his car and can contact them in the event of any problem. We want to offer the customer the latest technology. At an aerodynamic level, for example, with regard to the Venturi effect and ground effect, in 2019 Adamastor had already developed technology equivalent to that currently used in Formula 1. To achieve this, we have to adapt to constant changes and evolutions, for example, in terms of the requirements of homologation legislation. We also want to be a technology supplier to the market. Our objective is to license and sell the technology developed by us or through partnerships.
In an industry where electrification is increasingly mandatory, wouldn’t this be an obstacle to Adamastor’s success? Is there room for an electric supercar in the brand’s future?
Car electrification is a current solution. It may not be a solution for the future. There are several operators who argue that the current growth in dependence on batteries is creating a bigger problem than the one it is intended to eliminate. But Adamastor has a great advantage as a relatively small structure, its great reaction capacity. We can, if necessary and quickly, transition from one propulsion system to another, especially because we did not develop them. Adamastor develops chassis and bodies. The propellant is obtained externally. We therefore have a great and versatile capacity to adapt to market demands. As for the possibility of having an electric supercar in the future, it is important to make the distinction compared to a regular car, a vehicle to take us from A to B. A supercar aims at driving pleasure. Obviously there are impressive electric cars, but they lack something. They lack the roar. Without this aspect, it’s just a very fast car with an aggressive look.
On a more personal level, how did your passion for cars come about? What do you have stored in your garage?
My passion for cars began in 1973, when my father gave me a pedal car. I clearly remember saying to my friends on the street where I lived: “One day I’m going to put an engine in this little car.” It took 50 years, but I’m doing what I told them. After having my driving license, I always had small, cheap cars and the one I have the most memories of is a VW Golf that I bought used. It was the best car I ever had and it stayed close to my heart. Over the years I never invested much in cars, mainly because I couldn’t do it, as life brought me other priorities. So, I saved so that one day I could have the car of my dreams, which I keep in my collection today and which I use occasionally. At the moment I have a Mercedes-Benz 190 SL from 1955, completely restored, as well as a Porsche 911 GTS from 2015. However, the real dream is to have a car made by me, by my team, a Portuguese car.
From a production and commercial point of view, what are Adamastor’s objectives in the short/medium term? How many cars do you expect to produce and deliver to customers over the next few years?
Adamastor’s business plan envisages delivering two road cars and another two in competition versions in 2025, although the installed capacity predicted by Adamastor is the aforementioned 25 cars/year, which we estimate to implement in 2026. This is in addition to supply of spare and replacement parts. Adamastor will always produce limited series of 60 units of its models.
What are the main international markets where Adamastor intends to expand its presence?
In the first phase, and for reasons related to approval, Adamastor intends to establish itself in the European and United Arab Emirates markets. Subsequently, the objective is, obviously, to expand to the United States market, South America, Oceania and Asia.
What is Adamastor’s business model like? Will there be showrooms? What about assistance and services?
We are not going to invest in showrooms. We are going to invest in services, so that whoever buys an Adamastor has access to a transversal and integrated service. Adamastor cars will be sold exclusively at its factory, where customers can configure their supercar to their liking. And, when maintenance or repair work is necessary, it is Adamastor that meets the customer and not the other way around, as is usual. The team goes to the vehicle and assesses possible damage. If necessary, it is proposed to transport it to the Adamastor factory so that the vehicle can be restored to its original condition. In the case of a light repair or maintenance operation, and if conditions exist, the intervention can even be carried out at the customer’s home.
What type of customer does Adamastor intend to appeal to?
We have identified three types of customers. Firstly, the collector of exclusive cars, a customer who appreciates the car as a machine that, like a work of art, will eventually increase in value. Not only in terms of financial value itself, given that it is a very limited edition, but also in terms of adding value to your private collection. On the other hand, there is also the customer who is a lover of high performance, of the exclusive supercar segment and who wants to take advantage of a machine that is, in essence, a Formula 1 with bodywork and license plates and also the driver who, occasionally, wants to use your supercar on the track, for example, by participating in track days.
What brands do you see as Adamastor’s main competitors?
Our market study has our competition well identified. First of all, Aston Martin and its Valkyrie, but also brands such as Pagani, Koenigsegg, Rimac, without forgetting others such as Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Porsche and Ferrari in the supercar category. We will propose something, in terms of performance, very similar, but with a “keep it simple” approach, a truly competitive proposal.
What can we expect from Adamastor in terms of automotive competition? How important is this aspect in the development and implementation of the brand?
Adamastor will design two models, one for road and one for competition. This is an extremely important aspect for us, as it is a way of showing the market that we are not just another brand. First of all, as we are a Portuguese brand, a country with little presence in the automotive production industry and therefore nothing better than taking our product to the track, among the so-called “sharks”, in order to show the performance, resistance and resilience of the Adamastor product. Competition thus has two important contributions. On the one hand, it shows that Adamastor should be taken into consideration for the quality and performance of its cars, but, on the other, it will also serve to develop them. Let’s say that being on the battlefield will force us to improve and find more effective and efficient solutions. The Adamastor showrooms will thus be the tracks of the world circuits.
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