The Long-Awaited DeLorean Reboot Faces Intellectual Property Lawsuit
Rival EV maker Karma Automotive is suing DeLorean Motors Reimagined for allegedly stealing crucial design elements.
The long-rumored successor to the DeLorean DMC-12 may have just hit a bump in the road.
Houston’s DeLorean Motors Reimagined, which recently revealed the all-electric Alpha5 GT penned by hallowed supercar design firm Italdesign, is being sued by rival Chinese-owned EV maker Karma Automotive over claims of intellectual property theft.
Citing a new report from the San Antonio Express-News, Autoblog explains that court documents allege the two companies worked “on a potential joint venture” to electrify the original DMC-12 before four current DeLorean Motors Reimagined employees left Karma, taking crucial design and engineering information with them.
The defendants named are CEO Joost de Vries, chief operating officer Alan Yuan, chief marketing officer Troy Beetz, and vice president of brand and creative Neilo Harris, who are being accused of leveraging IP and sending proprietary information to attract potential investors.
De Vries denied the allegations in a statement to the San Antonio Express-News.
“This car has a very specific, unique DeLorean lineage that has no relation to Karma Automotive from a design, engineering, supply chain, or manufacturing perspective. We remain committed to the future of our company,” de Vries told the San Antonio Express-News.
He added that “the potential Karma/DMC project died due to Karma’s inability to fund or produce deliverables necessary to even move forward talks with DMC.”
News of the lawsuit comes shortly before the DeLorean Alpha5’s physical August 18 reveal at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Production is expected to begin in 2024, although an ongoing lawsuit is liable to cause delays.
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