@QuantumGeology Actually DeLorean was pretty much a ‘70s automotive industry version of an archetypical tech startup founder in many respects. Responsible for some of the most iconic American cars made by GM and for the first ‘muscle car’...
@QuantumGeology He was forced out of GM for not doing what he was told (because what he was told was to stay in his place, obey the company line and not outshine others). He started DeLorean to make the cars GM should have been making...
@QuantumGeology Stoked by ambition but limited by capital, he was lured into manufacturing in Ireland because of massive tax breaks offered to lure manufacturing jobs to Ireland. But Irish workers didn’t know how to make cars, so at vast expense Europeans built the factory and trained staff...
@QuantumGeology Because DeLorean had no alternative and GM/Ford wouldn’t take him back. Designed by Giugiario, bodywork by Lotus and engine by Peugeot, the DMC was every bit as revolutionary as the first iPhone. But that made it even harder for inexperienced factory workers to build successfully
@QuantumGeology Tensions grew and developed into extended industrial action, which delayed the car’s eventual release by an entire decade. Not surprisingly, by then the market had moved on. Unlike an iPhone you couldn’t just update the OS to bring it up to date, and no sales rev for 10 years!
@QuantumGeology DeLorean certainly pitched to every possible source of capital to keep DMC afloat and a number of times it looked like it would be saved to live another day. Which is why, when DeLorean was charged by the FBI for cocaine trafficking, a lot of people assumed he was guilty...
@QuantumGeology It didn’t help that the major auto manufacturers which hated this upstart threat to their cosy oligopoly combined their PR influence to make sure everybody assumed DeLorean was a drug smuggler. But the truth was very different...
@QuantumGeology DeLorean was a victim of entrapment. James Hoffman, seeking a reduced sentence for his own cocaine trafficking conviction, told DeLorean he had investors and he was going to set up a deal. Hoffman then lied to the FBI that it was DeLorean’s idea to traffic in cocaine...
@QuantumGeology Despite flaws in the prosecution’s case, the trial went to court (it had to - the auto industry has already made sure the whole world knew the famous DeLorean was facing drug charges). DeLorean was found not guilty on all charges. Defence didn’t even call a single witness...
@QuantumGeology But by then DMC had gone bankrupt (hard to raise investment when you’re facing drug charges after all) and the auto industry had succeeded in trashing DeLorean’s reputation for life...
@QuantumGeology The one serious American car making startup to ever threaten GM and Ford was now gone. It would be many decades before GM/Ford faced another man smart/determined/crazy enough to take them on. His name is Elon Musk...
@QuantumGeology Like DeLorean, he’s an engineer, has no time for diplomacy, has an ego and a sense of humour and likes to show off. Unlike DeLorean, Tesla is now bigger than either Ford or GM in terms of market cap. Electric cars can now be upgraded mostly through software...
@QuantumGeology When a Tesla model is delayed in shipping, or when Tesla needs to keep existing customers happy so they don’t switch to a competitor, Tesla can update their cars over-the-air. Suddenly they are faster, handle better and have new features and services...
@QuantumGeology That’s something poor DeLorean could never have done. The other advantage Musk has is that nobody much believed in startups in 1971. There was no such thing. Musk is a startup entrepreneur in a global culture that very much wants to believe he can succeed...
@QuantumGeology John DeLorean brought us some of America’s most iconic performance cars and wasn’t afraid to experiment with new designs, materials, techniques and assumptions about what America wanted from a performance car. He was never a drug trafficker...
@QuantumGeology Thanks for reading. Pardon my rant! Used to be a motoring writer. Sometimes that side of me comes out from underneath the tarp for a quick jaunt around the neighbourhood. Just to keep the lines clear and the plugs clean.
/ends
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