► DeLorean makes time-travelling comeback
► New, all-electric car due at Pebble Beach
► Italdesign partnership, gullwing doors
The new DeLorean Alpha5 has been revealed in a private preview 24 hours before its official launch on 31 May. It’s a pure battery electric coupe with dramatic gullwing doors and a new twist on the original stainless steel-bodied DMC-12 immortalised on the silver screen.
Due on sale in 2024, the Alpha5 is pitched as a rival to the Porsche Taycan and presages a relaunch of the DeLorean Motor Company (DMC), which will over time expand to include a range of models.
The company will show its new all-electric sports limo at the 2022 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance – writing the next chapter in one of the most storied, and troubled, car brands of modern times.
People of a certain age will always associate the DeLorean with its film role in Back To The Future and the 2024 Alpha5 looks set to exploit that lineage, with gullwing doors, shiny silver paintwork and a sleek coupe aesthetic reinvented for the four decades that’ve passed since Marty McFly’s time-travelling exploits.
The inside story of DeLorean’s rise and fall: by Jason Barlow
DeLorean Alpha5: the lowdown
The new DeLorean will be unveiled in full at Pebble Beach’s Awards Ramp on Thursday 18 August 2022, officials have confirmed. ‘Excitement is rising like the doors of our iconic sports car, and we are revealing the next-generation prototype three days earlier than planned on the most prestigious stage at Pebble beach,’ said Troy Beetz, CMO of DeLorean Motor Company.
Check out the louvres on the rear screen, echoing the DMC-12’s slatted rear deck, as do the turbine-effect alloy wheels and liquid-metal paint job. Full-width light bars complete the rear end.
There are precious few technical details available yet, but DMC has worked with a variety of suppliers in the industry to power its new EV. The battery capacity is said to be around 100kWh – enough for an electric range approaching 300 miles on the US test cycle. Performance will be brisk: 0-60mph is claimed to take just 3.4 seconds. Zero to 88mph? That’s dispatched in just 4.4sec, claim officials with a knowing wink.
Conceptually, the Alpha5 takes over where the DMC Medusa left off; it was the sedan concept dubbed DMC-24 that was underway when the car maker collapsed into bankruptcy in 1982.
The link between Alpha5 and DMC-12
The newcomer sticks with the DMC-12’s iconic gullwing doors, this time opening to enable access to both rows of seats. The Italian design house teased its modern-day interpretation of the DeLorean DMC-12 to mark the car’s 40th anniversary in 2021.
The original 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro who co-founded Italdesign – which explains the connection between the two companies.
The DeLorean DMC-12 was a stainless steel sports car that featured gullwing doors and was powered by a rather asthmatic 130bhp, 153lb ft 2.9-litre V6 engine – although those figures became rather more potent when it harnessed the power of a lightning strike at 88mph…
The DeLorean Motor Company has been attempting a comeback in recent years, intent on creating replicas of the original but with modern drivetrains. Its efforts have been hampered by suppliers which weren’t willing to deal with low-volume production.
Now it appears the stage is set for a proper rebirth. DeLorean describes itself as ‘a new energy mobility company with a universal presence. The company launched its first vehicle to the public in 1981 and subsequently became an iconic brand characterised by its rebellious and trailblazing designs. After three generations of evolution, DeLorean embarked on its future trajectory in 2022 with an electric vehicle.’
DeLorean is now being led by chief executive Joost de Vries, who formerly worked at Karma and Tesla. He confirmed the Alpha5 was being manufactured by a contract supplier in Italy.
Stay tuned for more details on the electric DeLorean plans.
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