Kat DeLorean, the daughter of legendary automotive engineer John DeLorean, has announced plans to launch a new company, DeLorean Next Generation Motors, with the express intention of building a new sports car.
In a blog post on the DNG Motors website, Kat has outlined her plans to following in her father’s footsteps by producing the new car, dubbed the Model-JZD in honour of John Zachary DeLorean. The workforce she is assembling will include ‘some of the top automotive minds in the industry, alongside a portion of the original team that helped create the first iconic DeLorean more than 40 years ago’.
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The Model-JZD began as an effort by Angel Guerra and Allan Portilho to create a tribute design to honour the original ‘timeless’ DeLorean DMC 12 made famous by the Back to the Future movies, by imagining what it might look like if designed and built today. The two-seater coupe was reportedly designed with an electric drivetrain in mind, but the company is now weighing that option up against an internal combustion drivetrain. Unsurprisingly, the new design features the characteristic gull-wing doors of the original car.
The design caught Kat’s eye and she subsequently asked Angel and Allan to partner with her on the creation of the new company. Kat, who has a background in engineering, played an integral on many of her father’s engineering projects before he unexpected passed away in 2005.
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According to the blog post, Kat aims to rebuild the DeLorean name and brand into ‘the ethical company her father always wanted it to be’, creating ‘a new kind of mobility company the industry has never seen before, one that focuses on people and gives back to society’. Kat’s plans include the introduction of a new engineering programme to be rolled out in US public high schools that will provide a direct pathway to apprenticeships and engineering programmes at major universities. She is also planning to enter into partnerships with other manufacturing companies to help meet some of the challenges that the automotive industry currently faces.
The plan is to begin assembling the Model-JZD in Detroit, Michigan, in January 2023, with an expected unveiling by the end of the year.