Laforza was an American company which sold an Italian-built military and police body and chassis designed by Tom Tjaarda (also responsible for the De Tomaso Pantera and FIAT 124 Spider), fitted with Italian leather interior and a fuel injected Ford V8. It was marketed as a "luxury 4x4", competing with the Range Rover.  (The 1994 Range Rover redesign, the P38A, alledgedly "stole" many of the Laforza styling cues.)

The origin of the Laforza was the Rayton Fissore Magnum 4x4 presented at the Turin Motor Show in 1985. This vehicle was based on an Iveco 4x4 40-10 frame that was shortened and lowered. The front and rear differentials, suspension, and brakes were carried over from the Iveco truck.

The body shell added additional strength to the chassis through a construction technique developed by Rayton Fissore called “UNIVIS”. The body consisted of a square tubular structure bolted to the “C” frame with 10 rubber mounts (silent block).

The first Laforzas arrived in the United States between 1988-89 with some modifications to the Magnum 4x4 base frame. The major differences included: reinforced and modified cross members, (transmission) and other details to use the 302 cu in (4.9 L) Ford V8 EFI engine and the AOD transmission, coupled with a full time AWD Newprocess 229 transfer case similar to those in use by Select Trak Jeeps . The NP229 uses a viscous coupling center differential (rather than a lockable open differential) and is unique in that 2wd can be selected for better fuel economy.