DeLorean Motor Company (DMC), the car manufacturer founded by John DeLorean in 1975, produced the DeLorean DMC-12 car for use in the movie Back to the Future. DeLorean, which winked at the future with its eye-catching design with a stainless steel body and a stainless steel body that resembled a gull wing and airplane doors with its upward-opening doors, was one of the most popular cars of its era.
Last year I asked “How much more modern can it get?” Introducing the renewed Alpha5 model in response to the question, the automobile manufacturer tried to win the hearts of the fans again. However, there is only one question in mind: Why did DeLorean stop producing cars?
First, let’s take the DMC Alpha5 model, which was first introduced last year.
DeLorean, which is now engraved in everyone’s memory, was unveiled again in a renewed form under the name Alpha5. Its electric engine, thin-strip LED headlights and DeLorean’s signature wing-shaped doors are truly eye-catching.
Alpha5, which has more modern lines in design, naturally follows in the footsteps of the DMC-12. You can access our content in which we examine Alpha5, which fascinates everyone with every detail, in more detail here.
Yes, Alpha5 is an admirable car and one that many of us dream of. But somehow DMC stopped producing cars and the only thing on their minds was “Why?” The question remained.
Let’s take a brief look at the history of DMC to make it more understandable.
In 1973, John DeLorean wanted to produce a remarkable car to stand out from everyone in the automobile market. The car he would produce had to be equipped with long-lasting, useful and sustainable materials.
John DeLorean, who worked at General Motors, was of the opinion that automobile engines in the future would be small but of high quality. However, he disagreed with the company employees and left.
2 years after leaving, he rolled up his sleeves to produce his own car. He hired Bill Collins, an engineer at Pontiac, and designed the DeLorean using some old sketches prepared for the Porsche 928. Of course, they only had one prototype.
The biggest problem of this prototype was its engine. When you continue our content, you may say, “I wish the only problem was just the engine.” you can say. For this prototype, which was completed in six months, they initially used Ford’s 3.0-liter V6 engine, but it did not work well. They then decided to use Citroen’s 102 hp 4-cylinder engine, but this option was not very powerful either.
Unable to reach an agreement with Citroen, John DeLorean and Bill Collins worked on a new prototype in 1977 and worked with Lotus, the only company they could reach an agreement with at that time. They agreed on a 2.85-liter V6 PRV (Peugeot-Renault-Volvo) engine, and production of the car eventually began in Dunmurry, Ireland, in 1981.
The duo of John DeLorean and Bill Collins, who spent $150 million that year, produced 9,000 cars in the factory they built in Dunmurry over three years. But this did not provide enough income to cover the money they spent.
However, things started to go well and they became known with the movie Back to the Future.
DeLorean had a design that was ahead of its time. Although the idea of making the car from stainless steel was original, it made more sense to make it a car that everyone could drive. So, using the marketing strategy, the duo wanted to use the car in the movie “Back to the Future”.
The film was released between 1985 and 1990 and broke box office records at the time, grossing $381.1 million and making history as the highest-grossing film of 1985. The film was watched with admiration all over the world. Because the theme of back to the future attracted a lot of attention.
This would be an extraordinary development for DMC. We say it would have happened because attempts to use the DeLorean in the movie were foiled due to bad timing. Because even though the movie Back to the Future was released in 1985, the company had already gone bankrupt. We continue with the details.
Although the design of the DeLorean was admirable, it was not a very practical car.
Adopting Italdesign’s Giorgetto Giugiaro design language, the DeLorean was not very practical with its wing-like doors opening upwards. Since they were made of stainless steel, the doors were very heavy and it required a lot of strength to open the doors upwards. It did not have many notable features in terms of performance and handling.
Someone who drives such a futuristic car, of course, also attaches importance to speed, but the 2.85-liter V6 PRV (Peugeot-Renault-Volvo) engine had 130 horsepower and did not promise high speed. This engine, which could reach 80 km/h in just 6.6 seconds, was not very powerful.
DeLorean’s failure was not only due to its design, John DeLorean was the biggest factor here.
Many other automakers were collaborating with other manufacturers during production. However, John DeLorean decided to keep all production stages at DMC.
This meant that DMC’s revenues could not cover its expenses. So we can say that John DeLorean acted a little arrogantly in order not to bow to other producers.
The fact that the designers of the car were not paid enough, rival companies produced better engines than the existing ones, and DeLorean did not change its pricing policy, was like a car going downhill with its brakes bursting.
John DeLorean was in trouble at the time and was sued by the FBI and SEC before going bankrupt. Because he had borrowed a large amount of money and he insisted on not paying this debt. And this naturally made production very difficult.
The economic recession in America in 1981-82 also hit the company.
When John DeLorean founded the company, there was an economic crisis in America. Economic recession, rising inflation and skyrocketing unemployment have had a devastating impact on many industries, including the automobile industry. DeLorean also took its share in this economic crisis and suffered another blow due to rising oil prices during the Iraq-Iran war.
Unemployed people were not willing to buy this car due to increasing oil prices. Because the last sector that the public would want to focus on in the economic crisis would be automotive. In those already turbulent years, the automotive industry was also quite shaky.
John DeLorean was not a very good manager and played an unsuccessful role in crisis management.
John Delorean, who turned the opportunity into a crisis instead of turning the crisis into an opportunity, was never a good manager. His disregard for customers’ demands and his employees was dragging him further and further down.
A hunger strike by company employees caused supply problems and disruptions in shipments. Therefore, the factory suffered permanent damage and could not produce any more cars.
John DeLorean, who did not even know how to spend the money he had, started to get into debt because he continued his entire production process at DMC. Naturally, it came to the brink of bankruptcy because it did not allocate enough budget for design and engineering.
Scandals continued in the company and John DeLorean tried to make money illegally but failed.
John was trying to save his company by contacting investors from Colombia and Mexico, but there was no one willing to invest in his cars. So instead of finding investors, he decided to make quick money by selling drugs.
John DeLoreon, who started smuggling drugs to save the company and make a quick buck, was under investigation in the early 1980s. The FBI had learned that DeLorean Motor Company was involved in money laundering and drug trafficking and immediately began an investigation. He was arrested in 1982 but was acquitted of all charges after 11 months in prison.
The DeLorean, which had the potential to survive to the present day, remained a short-lived car due to neglect and economic recession.
The DeLorean DMC-12 was one of the most iconic cars and had the potential to be long-lasting. DeLorean, which intimidated its competitors with its design but failed, became very visible due to John’s drug smuggling and its story ended within a few years.
The car, which had deficiencies compared to other cars and could have been completed, was abandoned to its fate. Many of us would have liked DeLorean, which continues to exist today only with the Alpha5 model, to continue production, but unfortunately it did not happen. What do you think about these scandals?
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