DeLorean Alpha5 breaks cover with huge gullwing doors

There’ll soon be a new player in the performance electric four-seater segment and it comes in the form of the 2024 DeLorean Alpha5; a new two-door battery-electric GT sports car designed to haunt Tesla’s dreams.

Fitted with gullwing doors just like the original 1981 DMC DeLorean, the reborn icon is a modern-day love letter to its forebear, with its polarising looks and futuristic interior blended with a new zero-emissions drivetrain that should prove punchy enough to lay some thick black lines on the road – if not quite flames…

More of a preview than an all-out global debut, the DeLorean Alpha5 features a thoroughly modern exterior with squinty, layered lighting signatures, smooth curves, a louvered rear window and a silhouette perhaps reminiscent of a short-wheelbase Porsche Taycan.

The biggest difference between the Alpha5 and the Taycan, however – and every possible Tesla rival – is the omission of rear doors, leaving a pair of huge gullwings that provide access to both the front and rear seats.

Going by these initial reveal images, it seems the Alpha5 will be more of a two-plus-two than an all-out performance (two-door) sedan, but that hasn’t stopped DeLorean from gunning for the lauded Porsche.

In a recent interview with Autocar, DeLorean CEO Joost de Vries said the new EV will have performance match “the Mercedes-AMG GT and maybe the higher-end Porsche Taycans” rather than being a Tesla Model S Plaid hunter.

The preliminary figures released on DeLorean’s all-new website are certainly a point in the right direction, nominating an estimated 0-100km/h time of just three seconds and a 250km/h top speed, while the 100kWh-plus battery pack and anticipated 0.23Cd drag coefficient point to an EPA range of more than 483km.

Set to be available initially in a bespoke Launch Edition, the first batch of Alpha5s will reportedly be limited to a production run of just 88 units and will not be eligible for road registration.

According to the Autocaar report, the first 88 cars will ‘serve as an avatar for an associated NFT’ and only be able to be used on a track, but the following batches will be built – in Italy – and marketed more traditionally so they can be used as road cars.

“The Alpha5 is for people that love to drive,” de Vries said in an online statement.

Powertrain specifics and final performance figures will more than likely be revealed at the Alpha5’s official debut in August, but de Vries has already alluded to the sizeable plans DeLorean has for the future, including a V8 coupe, a battery-electric sedan and a hydrogen-powered SUV.

“We need an SUV for volume”, de Vries told Autocar. “The business case is an SUV that will be launched very quickly after we launch our halo car, but we need that halo car first.”

Said SUV is rumoured to be previewed not long after Alpha5’s formal debut in August.

Join the conversation at 

our Facebook page

Or email us at 

editor@carsales.com.au