With the construction of the factory in Belfast underway and with production scheduled to begin in 1980, Lotus set about making the DMC-12 into a fully fledged, road going sports car. The re-engineering was ruthless. Many of the designed features that had wowed the motoring world were junked. There was to be no air bags, no impact bumpers and crucially no ERM chassis. Instead, the DeLorean became an Esprit clone, adopting similar suspension set up and underpinnings. The Guigaro design retained intact.
The target production date of May 1980 came and went. These delays, coupled with the extensive development work crippled DeLorean’s cash flow. An additional loan of £14m was put up by the Northern Ireland Department of Commerce. In late 1980, pilot production began and on the 21st January 1981, the first proper Belfast manufactured DMC-12s were completed.
By the time Lotus had finished with the car, it was almost 20% heavier than originally planned. With only 130bhp on tap from the US-emissions restricted 2.8 litre V6, the 0-60 mph time was more like 10.5 seconds, making it much slower than contemporaries like the Porsche 924 Turbo. DeLorean had intended the car to have a target price of $12,000, but by the time of launch, that had more than doubled to $25,000. This was a big concern, as it meant that the DMC-12 cost more than a Porsche 911.
Even though the project was behind schedule and over budget, the achievement had been huge. DMC had built a brand new production facility and taken the car to production in just over two years. Motoring journalists, who still lapped up anything associated with John DeLorean, couldn’t wait to get their hands on the machine. Early Reviews were glowing.
“The handling is safe and satisfying, the V-6 engine surprisingly mellow in its newest assignment. The interior is roomy, comfortable, and reasonably well thought out. Most important, the DeLorean passes the critical enthusiast’s test: it’s fun to drive.
Giugiaro’s rounded-doorstop sculpture looks magnificent in the flesh, and the machinery is good enough to spark a fiery love affair after one quick drive around the block.”
Car and Driver, July 1981
The car sold in decent numbers initially, although build quality was poor. The Dunmurry workforce had little in the way of training or experience in assembling cars. Doors leaked and the interiors were notoriously rickety. Alternators were too weak to charge the battery, leaving the new owners stranded with a non-starting car. In fact, the first batch of cars were that shoddy that the DeLorean company had to set up a quality assurance centre stateside, which basically rebuilt the cars as soon as they came off the boat – yet another drain on company resources.
By the end of 1981, the USA, the car’s solitary market was in the throes of recession. Sales were drying up and stocks of unsold DMC-12s were mounting. Dealers stopped buying cars, starving the Northern Ireland arm of income. The company was in financial distress. Reluctantly, the now Thatcher-led Conservative Government agreed to yet another £17m loan in a vain attempt to keep the enterprise afloat. It did little to fix the massive hole in the company’s cash flow. By January 1982, DMC Ltd began to scale back production, lay off staff and move the factory to a three-day week. A further crisis ensued when Renault threatened to stop supplying engines a month later. The Government had had enough. On 19th February 1982, the company was placed in administration