Rowan

Among the projects completed during the two years at Ghia by Giorgetto Giugiaro was the De Tomaso Rowan.

In 1967 the first electric research study created by a Turin-based coachbuilder was ready to be launched. The research was sponsored by the battery manufacturer Rowan Controller Company headquartered in Maryland, which had become Ghia's main shareholder.

Profoundly different from the typical sports cars of those years, the Rowan is a five-seat all-electric city car, powered by a General Electric motor, with eight six-volt lead-acid accomulators, and a very low weight (less than 1400 pounds without the batteries). The car exposed a series of complexities for which concrete solutions have only been found in recent decades.