– In the driver’s seat. In the 117-year history of the mass-produced automobile, there’s never been a car company both founded and led by a woman. Men’s names—Ford, Ferrari, Chrysler—became the iconic brands that dominate the category.
Dacora is catering to an ultra-wealthy clientele, one that may not even be driving (or be driven in) an equivalent car today. The customer is often someone who has built or sold a company, whose work blends fully into their life, D’Ambrosio-Correll says. The customer is eager for privacy and disconnection—the car has no screens inside, beyond a disappearing navigation platform. The car is electric partly because that’s the quietest engine. The buyer doesn’t want voice control or other modern features. “They’re not happy with what’s on the market,” she says. “They’ve gone downmarket.”
Dacora is not building its own power train, and is building the model on top of an existing EV platform. “It’s kind of an old school model that used to be done back in the ’20s and ’30s,” D’Ambrosio-Correll explains. That helps this not to be a “money pit” of an endeavor, she says. The company also won’t hold inventory, and will build vehicles commissioned for clients at a factory/atelier in Hudson, New York. The CEO expects to turn a profit in Dacora’s second year of production and expand to global markets—especially the Middle East and Europe—after that.
While the ultra-luxury automotive market may seem to be dominated by men, D’Ambrosio-Correll is eager to build for a female clientele too. At 4-foot-9, she’s well aware of the challenges that arise when cars are not designed for women. “Not only are cars designed by companies that are led by men, they’re marketed as if women only care about the safety of their families—which, of course we do, but that’s not the only thing we care about,” she says.
D’Ambrosio-Correll hopes that Dacora lasts as long as the world’s most iconic auto brands. “Hopefully, this will be our family legacy for a long time,” she says.
