Detroit Electric returns after 70 years on ice

Chances are you’ve not heard of Detroit Electric. After all, the name died with the company more than 70 years ago. Fortunately, death isn’t as permanent for brands and trademarks as it is for flesh and blood.

Now the wheel has turned for a name associated with a technology that lost favour in the age of internal combustion. Detroit Electric’s time has come and it’s back with something more exciting than the humble fare of its past.

If this teaser shot is anything to go by, it’s also something looking rather like… a Lotus.

This should not be all that surprising. The revival of what the press release calls “the original electric car brand” is the work of Albert Lam, former Lotus Engineering Group CEO and Executive Director of Lotus Cars.

Since 2008, he’s been working to realise “a vision to produce an electric vehicle that seamlessly integrates refined aesthetics, innovative technology and superior handling and performance.”

He’s also had plenty of experience in other tech sectors, with the likes of Apple and Sun Microsystems -- outfits that have taught him the value of what he describes as an “asset light” business model in keeping what is in all but name a start-up sustainable.

In essence, this means he plans to minimise investment in the manufacturing side, outsourcing it when he needs to so he can keep the focus on R&D and marketing.

Nevertheless, Mr Lam has stated that his company will be doing its bid to revive the sagging fortunes of the once mighty Motor City. This starts with North American CEO Don Graunstadt signing a long- term lease on premises in downtown Detroit’s iconic art-deco Fisher Building.

Over the next 12 months, the company plans to create more than 180 jobs there and at the production plant it’s building nearby. The plant will go live in August with an initial build capacity of 2500 units a year.

Details are scant on exactly what it will be building, beyond that it will be a limited-edition two-seat sports car with “class-leading electric vehicle powertrain technologies… [certain] to quicken pulses thanks to its bold styling, outstanding performance, exhilarating handling characteristics and impressive range…”

Detroit Electric will launch it early next month in Detroit, with the first full reveal, including tech specifications, on April 20 at the Shanghai motor show.  There, the company also plans “to share an exciting announcement about a major partnership with a global car-maker.”

Mr Lam described himself in a statement as “very fortunate to be working with a group of very talented engineers to create something really special. The sports car will allow us to demonstrate to the world our ability to build an exciting and innovative product. This DNA will be translated across to our future sedans; all our cars will be fun to drive and deliver exceptional performance within their class.”

The car will reach showrooms in yet-to-be-announced target markets by end of August. The company promises the car is but the first of “a diverse family of all-electric production cars” to including two more high-performance models set to enter production by end of 2014.

Starting out in 1907 as the Anderson Carriage Company, the Detroit Electric name first appeared in the US in 1911, spearheading what was to become a healthy automotive sector through and beyond the World War I years with sales of 1000 to 2000 a units a year.

Among its buyers were Thomas Edison, Mamie Eisenhower (wife of future president Dwight), John D Rockefeller Jr and Henry Ford’s wife Clara.

With EV technology already losing favour as oil prices dropped and the IC engine improved through the 1920s, Detroit Electric suffered a near-knockout blow with the 1929 stock market crash.

Initially rescued from bankruptcy, the company limped along producing limited runs of vehicles until being shut down in 1939. All told, in its first life, the badge appeared on about 13,000 vehicles.

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