DeLorean DMC to be reborn as electric sports car in 2022

The company that owns the rights to DeLorean is resurrecting the storied name for an electric sports car, launching in 2022.

Texas-based DeLorean Motor Company – formed by British engineer Stephen Wynne, who acquired the rights to the original company’s name and branding in 1995 – has previewed its modern-day take on the mid-engined DeLorean DMC in a cryptic Tweet confirming limited details.

It will be called the DeLorean EVolved in a nod to its electric drivetrain, and accompanying hashtags suggest that it will place a heightened focus on luxury than did the 1981-1982 original. 

This isn't the first time the revived marque has hinted at plans to bring back the DMC. Last year, 40 years to the day since the launch of the car, design house Italdesign showed a similar teaser image, suggesting that it's collaborating on the project. 

Italdesign was founded by revered designed Giorgetto Giugiaro, who was responsible for shaping the original DMC's characteristically angular stainless-steel body.

It's unclear whether the new DeLorean will be so faithful to the original design as to go with an unpainted steel finish, but it will at least have similar gullwing doors. 

In 2016, a new low-volume manufacturing bill gave the DeLorean Motor Company the green light to build a 300-off continuation series of original-spec DMCs, but the regulations didn't come into effect until 2019, and there has been no confirmation that the firm is continuing with these plans alongside the launch of the EVolved. 

No word on a powertrain supplier has been given, either, but notably Italdesign recently inked a partnership deal with British company Williams Advanced Engineering, which will have the two collaborate on an open-source EV platform for manufactures of low-volume cars.