The DeLorean DMC-12 is one of the most famous cars of all time, thanks to its striking appearance, notoriously trouble-ridden production run and its memorable appearances in the Back to the Future films. Now, the brand has been revived and shown off renders of a new electric car – but we think it’s more than a little disappointing.
This new DeLorean is called the Alpha5 and it purports to be a very different beast from the V6-powered DMC-12 John DeLorean cooked up in the 80s.
According to this reborn DeLorean Motor Company, the Alpha5 will be a multi-motor EV with a 100kWh+ battery. Specs for the “base performance model” suggest it’ll have over 300 miles of range and do 0-60mph in 2.99 seconds. They also offer a 0-88mph figure of 4.35 seconds. Cute.
It also has an estimated drag coefficient of only 0.23Cd, which would make it one of the most aerodynamic production cars ever built.
It’s all very cool, but we can’t help but feel they’ve missed the mark with the design of the Alpha5 though.
We see two things wrong with this car. Firstly, where the original was a two-seater coupe, the Alpha5 is a four-seater ‘fastback’ sort of thing. While the original DMC-12 was hardly a small car, we feel as if giving it a second row doesn’t feel faithful to the original.
That’s before we talk about the practicalities of having just one huge gullwing door per side with no B-pillar… We’re not sure how feasible that would be in the real world.
According to Drive, the Alpha5 would be longer than most or all two-door Aston Martins, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, and occupy the same space on the road as a Toyota Land Cruiser. That’s pretty huge.
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Secondly, we think it just doesn’t look very DeLorean. The DMC-12, which was designed by the legendary Giorgetto Giugiaro at Italdesign and clad in stainless steel, is one of the most iconic and best-loved pieces of automotive design ever. Sure, we’re not in the 80s anymore and a car as angular as the DMC-12 might not be amenable to modern tastes (or safety regulations) but we just don’t think it’s recognisable as a DeLorean.
Actually, it’s a bit generic. If it didn’t have the gullwing doors, you’d easily confuse it for something Lucid Motors, Fisker or even Tesla might come out with. Hell, they’ve even done away with the classic DeLorean font. It’s weird, especially as the Alpha5 was also designed by Italdesign. Bring Giugiaro back!
Maybe we’re being too harsh. It’s just a render; a concept car. It doesn’t represent a final product. DeLorean even admits as such: “We reimagine ourselves daily. We have a clear vision of our future, knowing it does not represent today.” Or, to decipher brand-speak, this isn’t making it into production.
There are some nice nods to the original design, such as its three-spoke steering wheel and its big multi-spoke alloy rims, which call to mind the spindly rims of the DMC-12. It might be swoopy and low-drag but the general body shape does also resemble the silhouette of the DMC-12, too.
Ultimately, we’re happy to see the DeLorean brand come back, as well as see more competition in the already hot performance EV market. Fingers crossed the production car takes a few more styling cues from the original, though. Oh, and throw in some hoverboard storage.
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