Not everyone is familiar with the DeLorean Motor Company name, but most people know the automaker’s now legendary product: the DMC DeLorean. Although sold only for the 1981–1983 model years, the sports car’s stainless steel body panels and gullwing doors made it—and continue to make it—a wholly unique and head-turning vehicle. No wonder director Robert Zemeckis chose the car to serve as the time machine in the Back to the Future movie franchise.
It was only a matter of time, then, until another entity brought the notorious vehicle back to life. DeLorean Motors Reimagined is doing just that. The company, whose largest shareholder is the DeLorean Motor Company that sells parts for and restores original DeLoreans, is set to reveal its new-age take on John Z. DeLorean’s classic coupe at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in August.
The car DeLorean parks on the Concept Lawn at the concours will preview the company’s low-volume production vehicle. Unlike the gasoline-powered DeLorean of yore, the new one will receive motivation from a battery-electric powertrain. Company officials are keeping mum on most of the car’s key details at the moment, but chief executive officer Joost de Vries, who previously held positions at companies such as Volvo and Tesla, shared with Car and Driver that the reborn DeLorean is expected to offer at least 300 miles of driving range.
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The company is fitting the car with a bespoke platform, too, though it intends to source the powertrain—such as electric motors and battery packs—it needs from external operations. As de Vries noted, “It makes no sense today for a company of our size to vertically integrate everything.”
The finished product ought to crib styling cues from its forebear without recycling its looks. As chief marketing officer Troy Beetz said, the car the company plans to show off at Pebble Beach imagines what a modern DeLorean might look like “had it been around for the last 40 years.”
Whether this results in a car that turns heads in the same way its predecessor did remains to be seen. Nevertheless, the company wants to create a vehicle that caters to people’s emotions, with de Vries divulging that the forthcoming DeLorean sacrifices some aerodynamic efficiency in the name of style.
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Despite its looks, the original DeLorean’s performance was rather unimpressive. Don’t expect that facet of the old car to carry over to the new one. Although de Vries was adamant about the DeLorean redux “not [being] a hypercar,” he did state that the company is engineering the vehicle to appeal to “people who want to drive.”
It’s clear the folks spearheading this project possess the experience and passion to theoretically create a competitive high-end electric sports car. Still, it’s neither easy nor inexpensive for a rather small organization to build and produce a new and profitable vehicle.
We certainly want to believe in the promise of a modern-day DeLorean, and we’re excited to see what the company brings to Pebble in August. That said, we’ll likely maintain a bit of healthy skepticism until we see the operation start delivering vehicles to customers.
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