John DeLorean

John Zachary DeLorean (dəˈlɔriən ; January 6, 1925 – March 19, 2005) was an American engineer, inventor, and executive in the U.S. automobile industry. He is widely known as founder of the DeLorean Motor Company, as well as for his work at General Motors. DeLorean managed the development of a number of vehicles throughout his career, including the Pontiac GTO muscle car, the Pontiac Firebird, Pontiac Grand Prix, Chevrolet Cosworth Vega, and the DMC DeLorean sports car, which was featured in the 1985 film Back to the Future. He was the youngest division chief in General Motors history, then left to start the DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) in 1973. Production delays meant that DMC's first car did not reach the consumer market until 1981, when a depressed buying market was compounded by lukewarm reviews from critics and the public. After a year, the DeLorean had failed to recover its

175 million investment costs, unsold cars accumulated, and the company was in financial trouble. In October 1982, DeLorean was charged with cocaine trafficking after FBI informant James Hoffman solicited him as financier in a scheme to sell of cocaine worth approximately

24 million. DMC was insolvent at the time and $17 million in debt. Hoffman had approached DeLorean, a man whom he barely knew with no prior criminal record, and DeLorean was able to successfully defend himself at trial under the procedural defense of police entrapment. The trial ended in a not guilty verdict in August 1984, by which time DMC had declared bankruptcy and ceased operations. DeLorean was born in Detroit, Michigan, the eldest of four sons of Zachary and Kathryn () DeLorean. His father, a mill worker, was Romanian, born Zaharia Delorean (deloˈre̯an) in Sugág village, Alsó-Fehér County, Austria-Hungary (currently Șugag, Alba County, Romania) and emigrated to the United States when he was 20. He spent time in Montana and Gary, Indiana before moving to Michigan. By the time John was born, Zachary had found employment as a union organizer at the Ford Motor Company factory in nearby Highland Park.

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related concepts (3)

John DeLorean

Automotive industry in the United States

In the United States, the automotive industry began in the 1890s and, as a result of the size of the domestic market and the use of mass production, rapidly evolved into the largest in the world. The United States was the first country in the world to have a mass market for vehicle production and sales and is a pioneer of the automotive industry and mass market production process. During the course of the 20th century, global competitors emerged especially in the second half of the century primarily across European and Asian markets, such as Germany, France, Italy, Japan and South Korea.

Detroit

Detroit (dɪˈtrɔɪt , ˈdiːtrɔɪt) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the most populous U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. Detroit had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 census, making it the 27th-most populous city in the United States. The metropolitan area, known as Metro Detroit, is home to 4.3 million people, making it the second-largest in the Midwest after the Chicago metropolitan area, and the 14th-largest metropolitan area in the nation.