DeLorean and other new U.S. car mfgrs - comparo table
It's tough to start a car manufacturing business.
Here's a .pdf table showing how four entrepreneurs - and their investors - have fared so far at starting U.S.-based car companies over the last 40 years. The two most recent companies are going at it right now. Whatever else one says about Bricklin, DeLorean, Musk and Fisker they all have taken risks and blazed trails most people only dream of.
While the Bricklin and the DeLorean were not made in U.S. factories - they were made in New Brunswick, Canada and in Northern Ireland, respectively - the companies were based here and the target market was North America.
A few categories show some interesting differences. Only Tesla so far managed to get to a second car model. Both Bricklin and DeLorean owned and ran the factories that made their first car model while Tesla and Fisker both opted for outsourcing to make their first models. Yes, the Tesla Roadster was assembled in the USA - that "factory" was the service bay of a former Chevrolet dealership where the outsourced drivetrains, battery modules and fully-fitted rolling chassis met up. So based on where the value and content was added I'm saying the Roadster was largely an outsourcing job.
I decided to leave off the funding details since it's hard to come by the totals and the funding story continues for the newest pair. As does the sales volume story, which for now shows DeLorean as the unit sales leader.
Yes, there were Tucker, Panoz, Excalibur and a handful of other U.S. companies who tried manufacturing cars, also some new ones like Coda. This table covers only the ones bigger ones.
We shall see how it goes for the newest pair of these entrepreneurs and their backers.
A few categories show some interesting differences.
As well as some similarities. See below
I decided to leave off the funding details since it's hard to come by the totals and the funding story continues for the newest pair. As does the sales volume story, which for now shows DeLorean as the unit sales leader.
Acknowledging the above statement, there are enough parallels between Bricklin and DeLorean in this area that I thought it important to touch on.
The Premier of New Brunswick at the time, Richard Hatfield, believed the Bricklin enterprise would being much needed jobs to the region, and started pumping funding into the organization, without a system of checks and balances, well before production started. There was very little actual private investment in the company, if any. Malcolm Bricklin was a person who believed that his calling was coming up with ideas, franchising them for quick money, and moving on.
Be it a misunderstanding or intentional, the government thought the car was engineered and ready for production. The money originally given to Bricklin, supposedly the entire amount that would be needed, turned out only to pay for the engineering of the car. Millions more would follow.
Bricklin became a major provincial election talking point during this time. Richard Hatfield crisscrossed the province in a Bricklin, even though the car was never officially available for sale in Canada. He used Bricklin as an example of the "successful business" his previous term brought to NB, and he won re-election.
The venture was never going to be profitable. During production, they lost money on every car built. It's been said that it cost twice as much to build the cars then when they sold for! When it was later discovered that funds were quietly being given to the company to keep it afloat, the government stopped funding Bricklin and the company went into receivership.
Overall, both companies relied on public money to keep their cars alive. IMO, John's reach was beyond a sustainable scope for the money available, and Malcolm was sort of winging it as he went along.
There is a book out there that tries to explain what happened, sort of like how Dream Maker or Grand Delusions did. It was published in 1977 by a small firm. Worth a browse if anyone ever finds a copy of it.
Bricklin / by H. A. Fredericks with Allan Chambers.
ISBN 0887900887
Time to update that table. According to the Tesla forums, VINs 8000+ are starting to be delivered now. That puts their total production over 10,000 cars and growing at a rate of 500 per week! So they've now outsold DeLorean. That doesn't really mean much since at one point DeLorean surpassed Bricklin and still failed. Still, things are looking good as they seem to be able to keep the reservations going at a good rate and are now profitable. The Model X is undergoing final development and testing, so it should be going into production next year. Still, for longer term success, they need to get their Gen III car done. This is their ultimate goal of producing a $30k car to compete with most cars sold today. Assuming they get it developed and produced, their factory should be able to produce a very large amount (it's currently utilizing about 15% of the floor space for Model S production).
I've ordered a Model S (should be delivered next month), so I'm very interested to see how Tesla turns out. I have a feeling this is how most original D owners felt too! Lots of risk for me if Tesla fails, but at least I'll have some good bragging rights if they succeed in the long run.
I've ordered a Model S (should be delivered next month), so I'm very interested to see how Tesla turns out. I have a feeling this is how most original D owners felt too! Lots of risk for me if Tesla fails, but at least I'll have some good bragging rights if they succeed in the long run.
Toyota has invested 50 Million into Tesla, and is partnering with them in EV development. Due to Toyotas involvement and stake I really don't see Tesla as an independent U.S. based car maker in the same vein as DeLorean and Bricklin.
Time to update that table. According to the Tesla forums, VINs 8000+ are starting to be delivered now. That puts their total production over 10,000 cars and growing at a rate of 500 per week! So they've now outsold DeLorean. That doesn't really mean much since at one point DeLorean surpassed Bricklin and still failed. Still, things are looking good as they seem to be able to keep the reservations going at a good rate and are now profitable. The Model X is undergoing final development and testing, so it should be going into production next year. Still, for longer term success, they need to get their Gen III car done. This is their ultimate goal of producing a $30k car to compete with most cars sold today. Assuming they get it developed and produced, their factory should be able to produce a very large amount (it's currently utilizing about 15% of the floor space for Model S production).
I've ordered a Model S (should be delivered next month), so I'm very interested to see how Tesla turns out. I have a feeling this is how most original D owners felt too! Lots of risk for me if Tesla fails, but at least I'll have some good bragging rights if they succeed in the long run.
I believe they reported profit past quarter as well. Good to see the EV Market growing strong. Nissan Leaf sold little over 2.2k Units in March.
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Originally Posted by Rich
