Is This Electric DeLorean Concept Art By A Rimac Designer The Real Deal?

With its timeless Giugiaro-designed stainless steel body and iconic gullwing doors, the DeLorean DMC-12 didn’t need a generation-defining trilogy of movies to make it a classic, but it got one of those, too. Gone before its time in a swirl of scandal and rumors, DeLorean never had a chance to grow into its potential, but now? DeLorean is back, as announced by a cryptic, shadowy SuperBowl ad.

The Future was never promised. Reimagine today.
Sign up for the premiere of the DeLorean in 2022.
https://t.co/K9n8D1s5uK#DeloreanEVolved#Delorean#Auto#ElectricVehicle#Luxury#BigGame pic.twitter.com/99HsGLCswb

— DeLorean Motor Company (@deloreanmotorco) February 13, 2022

My fellow CT contributor, Steve Hanley, and I immediately took to our message boards. “Think it’s a scam?” I asked. Steve’s response was a sarcastic sort of, “Whaaa?” and we decided to leave the whole idea of reborn DeLorean alone for a while … until I noticed something over at Robb Report.

Not only has Robb Report been reporting on a new-age DeLorean for years now, since before the pandemic, in fact, for those of you who can remember a time before the pandemic. What’s more, in December of 2020, it actually published renders of a new DeLorean concept from Spanish car designer Angel Guerra.

You can take a look at Angel’s gullwing concept for yourself, below …

In and of itself, an article about someone’s art project probably wouldn’t be big news (unless it’s an art project we cover on CleanTechnica, obviously), but Guerra isn’t a nobody. He’s been a working car designer since 2008, and his most recent work was done at a small shop called Rimac Automobili.

Yes. That Rimac Automobili.

So, Guerra knows what’s up — and he’s studied the original DeLorean, too. “The first question is why the modern DeLorean looks like it is,” Guerra told Retrogeist. “I have studied the designer (Giorgetto Giuguaro), his design language and his models. But also, another Italian reference from that age as the Lancia Montecarlo … I’ve tried to take the Italian design language from that age and mixed with the German Bauhaus rules. I gave the result a modern surface treatment and a minimalist graphic design. All the lights are in one plane, and … Eureka!”

Plus, there’s an interesting detail in Angel’s work that looks an awful lot like the silhouette shown in the official Twitter ad. Look at that strip of LEDs up front, then again at the rear diffuser. Do you see it?

Whereas most people who saw the Twitter video were reminded of the Tesla Model S’ “v-shaped beak” at the nose of the car, it’s not totally inconceivable that what we’re actually seeing is an evolution of a design something like Guerra’s, with a similar v either echoed at the front — or, that we’re not looking at the front of the car at all.

At the moment, there’s just no way to know. At the time it was originally shown, Guerra said there was no official connection to DeLorean, but there might not have been a DeLorean to connect to, back then. And, sure, this is idle speculation, but I’m standing by the idea that, if you squint really hard and believe just a bit harder, this Angel Guerra concept first published by Robb Report back in December of 2020 might give us our best clue yet to the overall look of the reborn DeLorean.

Give it a good squint for yourselves, then let us know what you think!

Source | Images: Angel Guerra, via Retrogeist and Robb Report.