An electric car brand driven by Thomas Edison, Mamie Eisenhower, John D. Rockerfeller Jr. and the wife of Henry Ford, among others, is returning to Motor City.
Detroit Electric, the moniker for an all-electric car company that built vehicles from 1907 to 1939, is returning to downtown Detroit, Mich., under the leadership of Chairman and CEO Albert Lam, who revived the name in 2008.
Amid the economic downturn, news about the revised company waned and by 2009, many assumed Lam's effort to resurrect the once-proud brand had fizzled.
That's why many in the auto industry are admittedly shocked today, as Detroit Electric has seemingly reappeared like a bolt of lightning, announcing it has signed a long-term lease for its North American regional headquarters in the city's landmark Fisher Building, a longtime focal point for the auto industry.
Detroit Electric has also announced it will unveil an all-electric, limited-edition sports coupe in Detroit in early April before introducing the model to the world at the Shanghai Auto Show later the same month.
Although the specs for the two-door vehicle are still largely under wraps, a teaser photo released by the company depicts a car with tiger eye-style headlamps and a low-set, menacing front that seems to take at least a few design cues from Lotus --- perhaps not surprising, since Lam served as Group CEO of the Lotus Engineering Group and Executive Director of Lotus Cars of England immediately prior to starting Detroit Electric.
The auto maker says it plans to fully produce its introductory Detroit Electric sports car at a site within Michigan, starting in August.
Detroit Electric says its dedicated production facility will have an annual capacity of 2,500 sports cars. Meanwhile, the company expects to also to bring to the region over 180 sales and manufacturing-related jobs over the next 12 months.
With plans to sell the new sports model in key markets throughout the country by the end of August, Detroit Electric will also prepare to begin production on to other high-performance models by the end of 2014 --- and establish a full line of all-electric family production vehicles sometime after that.
"I am very fortunate to be working with a group of very talented engineers to create something really special. The sports car will allow us to demonstrate to the world our ability to build an exciting and innovative product," said Lam. "This DNA will be translated across to our future sedans; all our cars will be fun to drive and deliver exceptional performance within their class."