"New day. New energy."
DeLorean Motor Co. wasted few words in its recent social media message as the automaker tweeted a brief clip of an electric version of the legendary ride.
'The Reveal'
The gullwing doored vehicle, whose namesake appeared in the "Back to the Future" film franchise, has louvers on the rear window and an LED light bar that spans the rear end's entire width.
The tweet includes the line "Sign up for exclusive access to the reveal of the all new DeLorean."
The DeLorean, which started getting buzz after a 15-second spot during The Super Bowl this year, is expected to offer at least 300 miles of driving range.
The median driving range of all-electric vehicles for the model year 2021 was 234 miles, according to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
The Texas-based DeLorean Motor said last month that the concept car is scheduled to premiere on August 18 at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, adding that "excitement is rising like the doors of our iconic sports car."
"The long-awaited concept car is the culmination of a 40+ year history with the prestigious design company Italdesign and DeLorean's new interpretation of a modern icon," the company said.
A Crowded Field
Please note that this DeLorean Motor isn't the original company that was founded by John DeLorean in 1975 and shut down seven years later. But the new company does have the rights to the original DMC name and branding.
The new company, which was incorporated at the end of November, is led by Joost de Vries, the former vice president of Chinese luxury electric vehicle brand Karma Automotive and former vice president of Worldwide Service at Tesla (TSLA).
The DeLorean will be joining a crowded field of electric vehicle companies currently dominated by Tesla, which delivered nearly a million vehicles last year, legacy automakers such as Ford (F), General Motors GM and Stellantis (STLA) as well as upstart challengers.
Ford said on May 3 that while total sales were down for the month of April, EV sales skyrocketed 139%, with Mustang Mach E sales jumping 95%.
A report by the Environmental Defense Fund last month said global automakers are project to spend more than $515 billion by 2030 to develop and build electric vehicles.
In the U.S. alone, 13 manufacturers have already announced plans to spend more than $75 billion to open manufacturing plants in six states, the report said.
Both global and U.S. electric vehicle sales remained strong in 2021 – up 40% and 4% year over year, respectively – even though supply chain disruptions and material shortages made the year difficult for sales of some other vehicles, the study said.
'Great Scott!'
Reaction on social media to the DeLorean was positive for the most part, including one person who posted a clip of Doc Brown, Christopher Llyod's character from "Back to the Future" declaring "Great Scott!"
One commenter made a reference to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, saying "all @elonmusk had to do was put gullwing doors on the Model 3 but noooo...will still be an elon and tesla fan but the DeLorean will give me the Russ Hanneman doors I want!"
Russ Hanneman is a character from HBO'S Silicon Valley who complained that his car does not have gullwing doors.
"Nothing Delorean about this… looks like a copied Porsche with a very generic shape," one commenter on Instagram complained. "Such a shame, they could have done more with this."
"Over the last few months," one person tweeted. "Anyone I've spoke to is ridiculously excited about this. However some are concerned that the style will be too close to Porsche or Audi... as sexy as these teases are, please show us the money!!"
"If I wasn't dirt poor, I'd buy the hell out of this lol," one commenter tweeted.
And another person posted an image of the DeLorean from "Back to the Future" and said "Super cool!!"
