DeLorean has cut production of its Alpha 5 electric cars by less than half.
The DeLorean Motor Company, best known for the DeLorean DMC-12 sports car that was the basis for Doc Brown's time machine in the movie "Back to the Future," is back as an EV company and working on its first model, the Alpha 5.
First unveiled last May, the Alpha 5 is a large coupe powered by a 100 kwh battery that promises a range of over 300 miles on a charge.
Like the DMC-12, the Alpha 5 was designed by Italdesign and features a pair of gullwing doors. It also easily achieves the feat of reaching 88 mph in just 4.4 seconds, according to the company.
According to current DeLorean CEO Joost de Vries, DeLorean planned to build 9,531 Alpha 5 coupes. According to him, fewer than 9,000 were actually built.
In an e-mailed statement to Motor Authority, De Vries said that the company plans to produce only 4,000 Alfa 5 coupes over the same five-year production span that it previously announced. De Vries cited supply chain constraints as the reason for the production cut. De Vries stated that he would rather sell only the number of cars that production can guarantee than sell extra cars and not be able to deliver them.
The company is currently taking reservations for the Alpha 5, which is uniquely done through the sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) linked to the production quota. DeLorean also plans to establish an exchange where NFTs (and by extension build slots) can be traded.
The price of an NFT is $2,500, but will increase to $3,500 on March 12, followed by a $500 price increase for every 500 units reserved.
DeLorean has not revealed the price or where the Alpha 5 will be manufactured. However, De Vries said that information, as well as final specifications and when deliveries will begin, will be announced later this year. DeLorean is currently focusing all of its efforts on the Alpha 5, a glimpse of which can be found on the company's website.