DeLorean Motors Reimagined grabbed national headlines when it aired a 15-second commercial during Super Bowl LVI that depicted its new vehicle as the electric-powered successor to the sports car made famous in the '80s film franchise Back to the Future.
The day after the spot debuted, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg announced on social media platform X, then known as Twitter, that DeLorean had chosen San Antonio for its corporate headquarters.
"In an increasingly competitive electric vehicle market, San Antonio is ready to lead," Nirenberg said in a statement at the time. "By planning to establish their global headquarters in San Antonio, DeLorean is validating the talent, strategic preparation and adaptability our region provides for [electric vehicle] manufacturers to thrive."
However, almost two years after the commercial and the mayor's announcement, DeLorean appears to have fallen short on some of its early promises, leaving customers worried.
This spring, DeLorean scaled back by more than half the number of cars it plans to deliver to the first round of customers who put down deposits for its first model. Some of those depositors now say they've been unable to reach company officials to get answers.
Meanwhile, the venture — which San Antonio and Bexar County approved for nearly $1.1 million in grants and tax incentives in exchange for creating 450 jobs by 2026 — appears to be a long way from reaching the benchmarks required to secure those perks.
Further, San Antonio's Southwest Research Institute, a massive R&D nonprofit that regularly works with the automotive industry, said it has no existing business relationship with DeLorean — even though the startup's executives have said otherwise.
Despite scaling back its launch plans, executives from DeLorean told the Current during a video-chat interview last week that the company is stable and moving ahead. They also encouraged customers to be on the lookout for a "big announcement" in coming months.
Non-refundable deposits
In August 2022, six months after the Super Bowl commercial aired and four months after the city and county approved its grants and tax abatements, DeLorean debuted its sole model, the electric-powered Alpha 5, at a California car show.
After that unveiling, Florida resident Ken Brackins put down a deposit for two "build slots" from DeLorean — a total cash outlay of $5,000.
"At first, they had a couple of working models, and I was fairly confident that they were going to do something," said Brackins, a Tampa restaurateur. "It looks like a pretty good design and everything, but the radio silence is deafening."
Unlike other EV makers such as Tesla or Rivian, which make deposits on future vehicles refundable, DeLorean, in keeping with its futuristic motif, opted to sell non-fungible tokens, or NFTs — unique digital assets that exist on a blockchain and can't be reproduced or edited — as a way to reserve slots for its cars.
"We saw it as a fun and futuristic way to basically allocate those thoughts to customers of buying a car and to be more transparent about where you stand in line," DeLorean Chief Brand Officer Cameron Wynne said during last week's interview.
Under the company's plan, those who wanted to reserve their purchase of a revamped DeLorean would need to join the private Alpha 5 Club, which runs $88, then spend $2,500 to $3,000 to reserve a spot on the list. Instead of a receipt, customers received an NFT.
NFTs emerged as a big deal in some investment circles during 2021 and 2022 — around the time of DeLorean's launch. Some people got rich quick by selling the online assets, which in many cases were marketed as works of "digital art."
However, many who dabbled in NFTs and didn't get out in time got stuck with garbage, according to industry observers. An estimated 95% of NFTs are now likely worthless, according to a report this month by Markets Insider, which cited an analysis by crypto and NFT gaming website dappGambl.
Brackins, along with other concerned DeLorean customers, told the Current he began to feel uneasy about his deposit after the company failed to launch an NFT marketplace in February. That marketplace was intended to allow trading of the NFTs awarded to people who paid for deposits.
After launching the NFTs, DeLorean told depositors that it's scaling back production plans for the Alpha 5. In an email sent to depositors in February, the company said it's revised the number of available build slots from 9,351 to 4,000 due to "supply chain bottlenecks."
DeLorean didn't offer refunds, according to an email sent to Alpha 5 customers on Feb. 28, 2023. Instead, those holding deposit NFTs were bumped up in line, or could hypothetically sell their NFT's on the DeLorean's exchange.
"Please be assured that your Build Slot is secure and that the reduced number of production units from 9,351 to 4,000 means that each NFT build slot has become more exclusive," the email said. "By raising our pricing, you, our first holders of our build slots, will enjoy the benefits of that action."
DeLorean added that the price of Alpha 5 NFT's would increase to $3,500, and that the price would go up by $500 for every 500 units sold. It's unclear exactly how many built slots DeLorean has actually sold as of press time.
"You know, there's a lot going on in technology," DeLorean Chief Technology Officer Ben Marquart said during last week's interview. "There's a lot happening geopolitically, there's a lot happening all over the place. And so that impacts everybody everywhere."
Delayed exchange launch
Last year, DeLorean told NFT holders that it would launch an exchange where people could sell their NFT deposit on the Alpha 5 to other interested parties or trade to move up in the queue.
"The NFT is a fixed price, and once the exchange opens up, people can start trading," DeLorean CEO Joost de Vries said in an October 2022 Twitter Spaces interview. "We're really hoping and rooting for people to have an opportunity to either get the car, because there's a lot of car enthusiasts that really want to get a car, or for the people that want to just bet with the brand and earn some money on the NFT."
De Vries continued: "By doing it the way we did, we believe that we have democratized access to the brand, and we'd love for people to either get the car eventually or speculate on the value of the production slots."
Florida deposit-holder Brackins told the Current he purchased two slots, thinking that if needed, he could potentially sell one for a profit on the exchange.
There was just one problem, he and other depositors said: the company's NFT exchange never became available.
"That link is on their website, but you click on it, and it was never activated," said New Yorker Andrzej Bubilo, who bought a DeLorean NFT last year for $2,500. "So, that's when I started calling a guy [at the company], and he said, 'Yeah, we're working on some stuff. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks when it's up and running.' He never called me back."
In an email sent to Alpha 5 depositors on Feb. 3 of this year, DeLorean officials said the exchange "has been built and ready to go live last year." However, the company opted to postpone the launch "until the financial processes were flawless," the message added.
As of press time on Monday, Oct. 2, the DeLorean exchange was still inaccessible from its website, according to NFT holders.
Jeff Reed, a slot holder from the Texas town of Tyler, bought his DeLorean NFT in November 2022. Reed said his NFT seemed to have disappear from his Alpha 5 account this June and he's still been unable to locate it.
"It was there all the way from November until June, and I was more than happy to check on it, because I kept hearing people say, 'Hey, my build slot [NFT] disappeared," Reed said. "Then, all of a sudden, one day, it disappeared."
Adding to the confusion, depositors said, the company managing DeLorean's NFTs, New York-based NFT IQ, was listed as "temporarily closed" on its Google business listing until Sept. 22. DeLorean executive Wynne said he's aware that NFT IQ was listed as shut down on Google, adding that he reached out to the company about the situation.
"I made them aware of it, and they were as shocked as I was, which is weird," he said. "Yeah, I don't know. They don't know why that's on there, and I don't [either]."
'Responded to every communication'
Texas depositor Reed told the Current he's tried to reach someone at DeLorean since he was first aware he couldn't find his NFT. He said he tried calling DeLorean's office in San Antonio and has sent several complaints to the company's customer service email account.
During the recent interview, DeLorean executives said customers with concerns should forward their complaints to that same email address.
Eventually, Reed got fed up and started sending the startup copies of his credit card statement to prove he'd spent $2,500 on an NFT, he added.
Someone from DeLorean finally got back to Reed on Sept. 12, informing him that the business had credited back his $2,500, he said. Reed added that he'd still not received a refund as of press time on Monday, Oct. 2.
DeLorean tech officer Marquart said he was unsure how or why Reed's NFT disappeared.
"I can tell you that we have responded to every communication that we have received," Marquart said. "We will make sure, and we have been making sure that we have reached back out to every single person that has reached out to us to date."
NFT IQ has yet to respond to the Current's request for comment on Reed's complaint about being unable to find his NFT.
SwRI connection?
DeLorean CEO De Vries established bold timelines and a big vision for the company during a June 2022 interview with the Express-News.
At the time, De Vries teased the idea that DeLorean would develop a hydrogen-powered vehicle within the next year and said it plans to lease space at a new futuristic tower being built at Port San Antonio that would eventually be dubbed "DeLorean Tower."
"I think you'll start seeing something late next year around here, the prototypes, testing validation cars," de Vries told the Express-News. "Mainly at Southwest Research Institute."
DeLorean's Marquart and Wynne declined to say when depositors can expect to see cars rolling off the assembly line, nor did they say when the company's NFT exchange will be up or running.
Instead, they said those interested in the company's plans should be on the lookout for a "public update" in the coming months. Again, however, they declined to reveal additional details when pressed.
"What I'll say is precision and accuracy and authenticity in our messaging is paramount to us," Marquart said. "And therefore, we will continue to ensure that what we release is as accurate and authentic as possible continuing to move forward."
Although the executives were tight-lipped about the production schedule for the Alpha 5, they continued to trumpet plans to work with Southwest Research Institute.
In comments to local media, De Vries has said SwRI is one of the reasons DeLorean chose San Antonio for its corporate headquarters. In an email last week, Chief Financial Officer Dean G. Hull told the Current his company is "in discussion with the institute regarding them supporting us in a variety of ways."
Marquart also said the DeLorean is receiving support from SwRI.
"We've been in pretty occasional contact with them [SwRI], and they've been supporting us in a few different ways and will continue to support us, and we'll get more and more in depth with them as time goes on," he said during last week's interview.
However, in a statement emailed to the Current, SwRI said it "has no active contract with DeLorean at this time." Officials at the nonprofit declined to offer further comment.
Despite that denial, Marquart stuck to his guns about the relationship.
"SwRI is a very large organization, and I'm not sure if their head of communications is aware of the projects that we run," he explained.
Jobs and incentives
As of press time Monday, Oct. 2, DeLorean's LinkedIn profile only includes 18 employees.
During a weekday visit to the company's offices at 907 Billy Mitchell Blvd. in the Port San Antonio industrial complex, no one answered the call button on the front door. Most of the parking spaces were vacant, and empty desks were visible through the windows.
Under the "Careers" tab on DeLorean's website, it says to check LinkedIn for job listings. Currently, no DeLorean job listings are available on LinkedIn.
While startups frequently run with lean staffing, DeLorean officials have publicly hinted at big hiring plans in the Alamo City.
Following the Super Bowl commercial, officials from the City of San Antonio and Bexar County negotiated with DeLorean brass to lure its headquarters to the Alamo City. In exchange, economic development officials offered to give the EV startup grants and tax subsidies.
Under the agreement between the city and DeLorean approved in April 2022, the company would need to employ at least 150 people with an average salary of $70,000 by the end of 2023 to receive its first $187,500 grant from the city. If DeLorean employs 450 people at its Port San Antonio offices by 2026, it will receive $562,500 in city incentives.
In April of last year, Bexar County commissioners also approved a decade-long tax abatement for the company valued at $512,828.
To secure that abatement, DeLorean told county officials in a document that the company plans to invest $590 million in personal property in the county, including $18 million put into the company's headquarters at Port San Antonio.
However, for the county abatement to go into effect, DeLorean must have 300 employees by the end of 2023, Jordana Mathews, special initiatives program director at Bexar County's Economic and Community Development Department, told the Current in an email.
"If they do not meet their employment commitment, then they are not eligible for an abatement for that tax year," Mathews added.
Asked about whether the company is on target to deliver the hiring schedules promised to the city and county, DeLorean executives said the business is still growing. They wouldn't reveal how many people it currently employs, but they didn't rebuke the information publicly available on LinkedIn.
"I mean, are we at 450 [employees]? No, we're not at 450," Marquart said. "We are continuing to grow and scale at the appropriate rate with the work in progress — in the place that we are today. And that will be more apparent when we provide a public update to what has been going on and, kind of, where we're at, what the status updates are and whatnot moving forward."
Reason for skepticism?
Both DeLorean executives and San Antonio Economic and Community Development Department Senior Public Information Officer Regina Villalobos-Perez confirmed that the company hadn't received any public money as of press time.
However, since the firm first announced its plans to produce the revamped sports car in San Antonio, experts have cautioned that such a project will be a heavy lift.
Only four months after city and county officials approved subsidies for DeLorean, California-based EV manufacturer Karma Automotive sued top execs at the San Antonio company, alleging intellectual property theft.
Although the suit was dropped on Sept. 8, Washington D.C.-based intellectual property attorney Michael Connelly told the Current last year that the city and county should have been skeptical of the pace at which DeLorean was able to organize and produce a concept vehicle.
Meanwhile, Nathan Jensen, a government professor at the University of Texas at Austin, told the Current in October 2022 that it "does seem like, at least on the surface, that some basic due diligence [by local officials] would reveal at least a hint of a problem."
Further, experts who track the electric vehicle industry cautioned that startups ventures in the space face high hurdles. Anjan Hemanth Kumar, an analyst for San Antonio-based market research firm Frost & Sullivan, told the Current in February 2022 that auto manufacturing startups are risky, regardless of how well capitalized they might appear.
"You need to make hundreds of thousands of cars to achieve profitability, so that's a huge problem," Kumar said. "It's a huge mountain to move."
Villalobos-Perez defended the city's due diligence last year, telling the Current in an email that the Economic Development Department completed "a review of legal and business history" of the team behind DeLorean. She declined to reveal further details during that exchange.
"Prior to the approval of the incentive agreement with DeLorean Motor Company, the city completed a review of [the] legal and business history of the C-suite team," Villalobos-Perez said.
Looking for the finish line
Time will tell how successful DeLorean is at living up to customer expectations and the big promises it made to city and county officials.
However, some of its depositors said they're increasingly skeptical.
Reed, the Tyler man who maintains that his NFT disappeared, said he doubts he'll see his deposit returned.
"I know I've been scammed on it," Reed said. "There's no way that a bona fide company would be that quiet. When they don't say anything, that's concerning."
Brackins, the Florida depositor, also isn't hopeful.
"I got a bad feeling they're probably going to do the old bankruptcy thing and wipe everybody out," he said.
DeLorean's Marquart said the company is on the level and working to make sure the Alpha 5 makes it to the finish line.
"I think for us to take personally statements that people make, we would do nothing but respond to every single comment that anybody ever makes in the history of the internet," he said. "I mean, it's all we would ever do. We would never get anything done."
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