By chance. This is how Ángel Guerra (Seville, 1982) got the opportunity to participate in the design of the DeLorean created by the founder’s daughter. Previously, this freelance car designer with more than 10,000 followers on Instagram, had posted on his social networks a free interpretation of what the DMC-12 would look like today. Almost four decades after the premiere of Back to the Future, both the family company (DNG Motors) and the original company and rights holder (DMC) compete to command the launch of the new DeLorean, a battle not without controversy for the legacy of this iconic car. Ángel tells us how a hobby has been transformed into one of the most exciting projects of his professional career.
What is the origin of your passion for the DeLorean MC-12?
When Back to the Future was released, the cinema was one of the few sources of information about the type of brands and models like the DeLorean. An entire generation of us was fascinated by a car that has had a great impact on the collective imagination. Playmobil or Lego have launched DeLorean collections, the movie is broadcast every year on television… Back to the Future was a cultural phenomenon of the time in which I grew up whose memory remains valid today.
You say that your fatherhood and the pandemic prompted you to design this tribute, why?
During the pandemic I started teleworking and companies canceled some projects. Then I had a little more free time, something that had almost never happened to me throughout my years of work, and I decided to propose this reinterpretation of what the DeLorean would be like today. It was a project that I did over the course of a week to have fun, simply according to my criteria and my tastes, without thinking too much about the original model or current trends in the automobile market. They are design exercises that I do as a hobby. I have also reinterpreted the Ford GT 40, the Ferrari F40 and other works that I will publish shortly on my website.
A year later, Kat DeLorean contacts you, excited about your design. Apparently, it will come true under the name of DeLorean NextGen Model JZD. What was that moment like?
It was a coincidence. After watching the documentary series John DeLorean: A Legendary Tycoon (Netflix, 2021), he understood that the car is not a good memory for the family. But the design became very popular on social networks and, I suppose it was because of the algorithm, Instagram suggested his profile to me. So I wrote to him informally to tell him that he had made that design out of love and respect for what his father did 40 years ago. It is true that he liked it a lot and over time he proposed to me to make this new DeLorean a reality. From there, I begin to advise you, as a professional, on how to carry out the process to materialize my design in a car.
What can you tell us about the current status of the project? What features will the JZD retain compared to the DeLorean 2021 40th Anniversary?
Due to confidentiality, I can only say that we are working on it. On my Instagram profile, you can see an interpretation of what this JZD model – the acronym for John Zachary DeLorean – could be, made from imagination and without any type of restrictions. In these designs there is an evolution compared to the first one I made in 2021, although it does not mean that this will be the final model. For that we will have to wait for the official presentation and DNG Motors’ intention is for it to happen as soon as possible. Obviously, it will be a sports car that can be mass produced.
Previously, DeLorean Motors Company presented its own reinvention of the DeLorean, Alpha 5, by Italdesign, the company that created the original design, at Pebble Beach in 2022. What are the differences compared to the JZD?
The main difference is that this is not a typical sports car, but rather a sedan. It has four seats, instead of two like a coupe, and looks more like a Tesla Model S than the DNG Motors model. They are two vehicles that belong to two different segments. In addition, it appears that the Alpha 5 would be electric and, in principle, the JZD will be a hybrid.
What is your feeling towards all this controversy? Has being somewhat involved dampened your passion for the DeLorean or just the opposite?
When my first design started to become popular on Instagram, one of the common questions was why not share it with DeLorean Motors Company. Steve Wine was the company’s CEO at the time, who had apparently obtained the rights through a deal with John DeLorean’s last wife just before he died. At that time I didn’t know anything and I contacted him to offer him the project and my services as a professional, through a marketing studio. The company responded that it was not interested, but after a couple of months they announced the refoundation of the company and the launch of a new DeLorean… Maybe they realized that it was viable. Another thing is the negative reception that the design they have created has had.
In 2022 I received an official letter from DeLorean Motors Company saying that I had to stop using the model I had designed because it conflicted with their copyright. It was funny, because there was no way I could have copied his model when I had designed it a year before. Obviously, it was an attempt to intimidate me from creating content regarding the brand. I don’t like that the name John DeLorean has been used when these people are not participants in the company’s past and it remains to be seen if they bought the rights legally. Perhaps that is why the family wanted to take the reins and redirect John DeLorean’s legacy to create a car much more in line with what he intended.
During your career as a designer you have worked for Rimac, Mercedes, SEAT, Citroën… Any pending goals on a professional level? Which?
I worked for many years in other European countries and today, luckily, companies allow me to telework. My goal is to continue designing, which is what I like, without leaving Seville, which is where I want to be.
