The DeLorean Motor Company has offered an early look at an upcoming all-electric evolution of the vehicle made famous by the Back to the Future trilogy. The Alpha5 sports coupe will debut at Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in August.
By the time Doctor Emmett Brown revealed his sporty time-traveling car to Marty McFly in the first Back to the Future movie, the Giugiaro-designed two-door DMC had already gone out of production and the company had gone bankrupt. The iconic name resurfaced in 1995 to support existing owners, and relaunched earlier this year with plans to bring a luxury EV to market.
Now the DeLorean Motor Company has revealed the first concept images and key specs ahead of a full reveal later in the year. The evolved electric sports coupe has been designed with Italdesign studio, which Giugiaro resigned from in 2015, and retains a few elements from the original DMC, including signature gullwing doors and chunky rear window louvers.
The Alpha5 is a bigger vehicle than its famous ancestor – with a total length of 4,995 mm (196.6 in), a 2,300-mm (90.5-in) wheelbase, a width of 2,044 mm (80.4 in) and a height with doors closed of 1,370 mm (53.9 in). It's modern body is designed to slip through the air, though its drag coefficient of 0.23 Cd is not as impressive as the aero chops of the Lucid Air or Mercedes EQS.
Full-width strip lighting enlivens the rear while thin slit headlights sit either side of the company name at the end of the hood, the electric coupe rolls on turbine-like wheels and sports a driver-side charging port ahead of the chunky door.
Inside are two seats in the rear and two in front, a wide digital instrument cluster in front of a steering wheel rocking a flat bottom, and the square control display rises up from the floating center console.
Some estimated performance specs for the base model have been shared, such as a sprint from standstill to 60 mph (96.5 km/h) time of 2.99 seconds and up to that magical 88 mph (141.6 km/h) in 4.35 seconds for an all-important Doc Brown moment, on the way to a top speed of 155 mph (249.4 km/h).
The company is aiming to install a battery pack of more than a 100 kWh for a per-charge range in excess of 300 miles (482.8 km), though we'll have to wait for official EPA figures later down the line. And that's about it for the moment.
"The Alpha5 is a representation of the past 40 years of DeLorean," said the company's Chief Marketing Officer, Troy Beetz. "There was this enormous responsibility to make sure we honored the history of the DeLorean brand, but an even greater responsibility in curating its future... I think we did both with the Alpha5."
There's been no mention of a production schedule or potential pricing, but Autocar reports that the launch edition will be limited to just 88 models and they will be track-only. Folks will be able to see the concept vehicle in person at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance on August 18 – and given the chosen venue for the debut, we can guesstimate that the Alpha5 Launch Edition will be very much aimed at the luxury driver.
Source: DeLorean Motor Company
