The DeLorean Motor Company, best known for the DeLorean DMC-12 sports car on which Doc Brown’s time machine was based in the movie “Back to the Future”, has been revived as an EV company and is working on its first model, the Alfa5.
First shown last May, the Alpha5 is a large coupe that packs a 100-kwh battery and is promised a range of over 300 miles on a single charge.
Like the DMC-12, the Alpha5 was written by Italdesign and featured a pair of gullwing doors. It will also easily reach 88 mph, a feat that can be accomplished in just 4.4 seconds, according to the company.
DeLorean had planned to build 9,531 Alpha5 coupes, which was the number the original DeLorean planned to run the DMC-12, according to current DeLorean CEO Joost DeVries. He said the actual number of builds was slightly under 9,000.
DeLorean Alpha5
In an emailed statement to Motor Authority, DeVries said his company will now only build 4,000 Alpha5 coupes, over the same five-year production span the company previously announced. DeVries cited supply chain constraints as the reason for the reduced production. He said the company would rather sell as many cars as it can guarantee to make, than sell additional cars and then fail to deliver.
The company is currently accepting reservations for Alpha5, which is uniquely done through an NFT (non-fungible token) sale linked to a build slot. DeLorean is even planning to create an exchange where NFTs (and thus build slots) can be traded.
The NFT costs $2,500, although the price will increase to $3,500 on March 12, after which a further $500 price increase will be applied for every 500 reservations made.
DeLorean hasn’t said how much the Alpha5 will cost or where it will be made. However, DeVries said that information, as well as final specs and shipping start time, will be announced later this year. DeLorean has more models on the drawing board, which appears briefly on the company’s website, though currently all efforts are on the Alpha5, said DeVries.
