Lee Iacocca started a friendship with the late Alejandro de Tomaso while at Ford, which led to the De Tomaso Pantera, which had flopped because of safety concerns and limited interest from buyers. During the 1980s, Iacocca headed Chrysler while De Tomaso was owner of the historic Maserati brand. In 1983, Iacocca had considered manufacturing a knock-off of a Mercedes roadster based on a Plymouth Reliant-until he was talked out of it. In 1984, both companies signed a memorandum of understanding to create a sports coupe that ultimately became the TC, an "image builder" which carried the hopes that it might help overcome Chrysler's blue-collar image and attract better-heeled customers to showrooms. Chrysler also became an investor in Maserati during that period. In 1985, Lee Iacocca stated that the planned "Q-coupe" would be the prettiest Italian to arrive stateside since his mother immigrated. The luxury roadster, which resembled a Chrysler LeBaron-it shared many of the LeBaron's components-had taken five years to complete because of mismanagement and squabbling among Chrysler and Maserati engineers which resulted in delay after delay.