fans of Return to the future they can smile again. 40 years after the farewell of the DeLoreanremembered as the mythical car of the trilogy, a new generation of the brand is yet to come. DeLorean Motor Company presented the first official image: it will be a fully electric vehicleIt will have Led taillights, a well-muscled body and a coupé style.
The car will finally be presented on August 18 (it was scheduled for the 21st of the same month) this year, within the framework of the Pebble Beach Contest of Elegance, one of the most important iron festivals in the world.
the new vehicle It was designed by Italdesign with the brushes of the renowned Giorgetto Giugiaro, the same one who drew the original DMC-12, although it will be manufactured by DMC, the company that belongs to Englishman Stephen Wynne.
Italdesign partnered with Williams Advanced Engineering to co-develop the EVX modular platform. With her, the next electric car It could offer a power of up to 1,300 horsepower and a range close to 1,000 kilometers.
There is no information on prices and availability, but everything seems to indicate that it will be produced in a very limited number of units. From the hashtags used by the brand when announcing it on Twitter, it is possible to deduce that the model It will be called the DeLorean Evolved.
The failure of the DeLorean DMC-12
Commercially the DeLorean DMC-12 was a failurebut his role in Return to the future assured another life to this model that was conceived in the USA, designed in Italy and manufactured between 1981 and 1982 in Northern Ireland.
This model it was the dream of John DeLorean, an American engineer who resigned from General Motors to build itwho summoned the famous Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro (a reference), who was responsible for drawing the main lines of a prototype that in 1981 went into production in Northern Ireland.
Why there? Because DeLorean obtained financing from the British government, which agreed to install the factory in Dunmurry (near Belfast), as an attempt to “calm down” the violence that was sweeping the area.
The road version kept the modern design of the concept almost as is. The highlight, even today, are its gull-wing doors, as well as the stainless steel, unpainted bodywork. The chassis was largely that of the Lotus Esprit, and although its official name is DMC-12, everyone knows it simply as a DeLorean, as it was the only model built by the brand before it went bankrupt.
The engine is rear and it is a V6 2.8 (2 valves per cylinder) developed jointly by Peugeot, Renault and Volvo. John DeLorean dreamed of 200 hp, but US anti-pollution regulations forced it to be reduced to 130 hp, which was a real disappointment among the public. The boxes were five-speed manual or three-speed automatic, both of Renault origin.
At the end of 1982 DeLorean Motor Company went bankrupt. Figures vary by source, but about 9,000 examples of the DMC-12 were manufactured, most for the United States, ie left-hand drive.
After the success of Return to the futurethe fate of the car took an unexpected turn, and today it is estimated that some 6,500 are running in perfect condition.