DeLorean is back at it again, this time with a teaser for a vehicle that really could move it into the future. In a tweet posted shortly before the Super Bowl kickoff, DeLorean Motor Company showed off a darkened profile of what appears to be its iconic car, proclaiming that “The Future was never promised.”
There are no other visual hints that the car will be an EV, other than the hashtags DeLorean chose to promote the tweet: #DeloreanEVolved #ElectricVehicle.
It’s worth noting that the company behind these teases is not the same DeLorean helmed by John Z DeLorean in the 1970s and 1980s. Parts of the company, including its logo and remaining parts inventory, were purchased by a man named Stephen Wynne in 1995 and moved to Texas, where it operates today as DMC Texas.
Back to the origins
Though sleek, the original cars weren’t all that exciting. In fact, the specs are downright sluggish by today’s standards, as its 2.85-liter V6 produced an anemic 130 horsepower. Even a mild electric powertrain would represent a massive improvement over the original car’s numbers. The DeLorean’s original rear-engine design could provide exciting opportunities for battery placement, should the EV version stay true to the original configuration.
Last year, automotive prototyping and design firm Italdesign tweeted an image that looks suspiciously close to the teaser DeLorean sent out during the Super Bowl. Rumors have pointed to the two companies working together on a new EV, which makes sense given the Italian firm’s five decades of history building prototypes and concept vehicles.
If the new EV makes it to market, it will be DeLorean’s second swing at producing vehicles in recent years. The company planned to launch a series of new cars in 2017, but regulatory hurdles pushed that date. While the DeLorean EV, if it enters our future, has not yet been assigned a price, the DeLorean reproduction cars often run around $100,000. It’s unlikely, however, that’ll have any bearing on the rumored new DeLorean EV price.
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