ZAP revives hundred-year-old Detroit Electric brand

It's taken a while, but it looks like we could soon be seeing a new batch of Detroit Electrics roaming the roads, as ZAP has just announced that its reviving the hundred-year-old brand for some of its own all-electric vehicles. According to the company, those will be developed in a joint venture with the China Youngman Automotive Group, and will include the Zap Alias (pictured above), which we've seen previously under slightly more mysterious circumstances. Other details are expectedly light at the moment, but ZAP will apparently have plenty more to say about its new retro ways at the NADA 2008 auto show, which gets underway in San Francisco next week.

[Matt Sullivan @ Feb 7th 2008 12:12PM]

Now the just have to get the battery tech right to compete with the other first electric cars: http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4248082.html?series=19

[z-man @ Feb 7th 2008 12:12PM]

I am tired of prototypes, when Detroit will finally deliver the final things?

[Superprime @ Feb 7th 2008 12:14PM]

Correct me if I'm wrong but a "brand" is about the public perception of the products and the company. The gut feeling if you will

Anybody who has seen or used a "Detroit electric" car is long dead so why the effort?

[soul7963 @ Feb 7th 2008 12:23PM]

They are reviving the brand name. Not the brand image.

[Superprime @ Feb 7th 2008 12:57PM]

Brand name? A brand is an image by definition.

Marty Neumeier defines a brand as:
"A brand is a person' gut feeling about a product, service or company"

[Rocketboy @ Feb 7th 2008 5:39PM]

It's a cheap way to try to instil some 'Americian Pride' in a car from China. Nothing more, nothing less.

[m @ Feb 7th 2008 9:48PM]

if it helps remind people that the gas-powered car was a contingent development, not a divine decree, it certainly can't hurt. i also think the retro logo looks cool, kind of like coca-cola's-- which still sells quite well, i believe.

[strider_mt2k @ Feb 7th 2008 12:15PM]

Needs more fonts.

[mulki1999 @ Feb 7th 2008 12:55PM]

heehee

[Zeek @ Feb 7th 2008 12:20PM]

A name from the past brings the future of ugly.

[ugg.tryptophan @ Feb 7th 2008 6:14PM]

the olds cars were ugly too

[KC @ Feb 7th 2008 12:36PM]

They can revive whatever name they want, until they start delivering a product they are a company of nothing but press releases...

[CanCar @ Feb 7th 2008 2:05PM]

A prototype with 3 tires, which is the difference with the others? the alias will reach a speed of 251 km/h and its sale will be of 30.000. All are the same!!

[John Stracke @ Feb 7th 2008 9:28PM]

I can't parse that. Could you rephrase, please?

[ZeroCorpse @ Feb 7th 2008 12:51PM]

That's great guys.

Now call me when you market an electric car for under $15,000

[Toadlet @ Feb 7th 2008 1:22PM]

Don't 3-wheeled cars fall into the motorcycle category?

[skulldriveshaft @ Feb 7th 2008 2:18PM]

The marketing department is getting paid.

Interestingly this could be helpful.

It may convince the patriots that an American company is doing electric, and they should buy and support it, and it even says Detroit Electric to boot, all homage and patriotism bundled perfectly.

[ug @ Feb 7th 2008 3:00PM]

Is it really an american company or just a front for a Chinese company?

[skulldriveshaft @ Feb 7th 2008 5:05PM]

that's exactly what people will ask, and not get any answers other than Detroit Electric is home grown.

[John Stracke @ Feb 7th 2008 9:29PM]

I'm pretty sure that's the point. Calling it the Alias just adds an extra level of irony.

[Zzephyr @ Feb 7th 2008 3:22PM]

Article is vague on the details, but it appears that the cars will be manufactured in China and sold in the USA.

Someday, one of these ventures is going to produce something of interest.

[aerorail @ Feb 7th 2008 4:15PM]

lets see.....zap was to bring SMART car to the usa sold a one or two of them for $25000.00+...and has since failed. daimler benz now sells the same Smart car for $12000.00 or so. zap has tried electric vehicles in the past and pretty much have done nothing. i don't expect anything to come of this.

[Reid @ Feb 7th 2008 5:23PM]

To be fair, bringing a new car to market is difficult and expensive. Selling a few vehicles as one-offs is far more expensive per unit than fronting the development costs to crash test a vehicle and bring it to a dealer network. Those up front costs are high, but if you have a sales hit, you can spread them out over lots of vehicles.

I don't think it was really Zap's fault that it cost them $25k to sell a Smart ForTwo here.

[r00 @ Feb 7th 2008 5:33PM]

Another thing to remember is that the majority of ZAPs vehicles are three wheelers, which are exempt from DOT four wheel crash testing and mandates, so effectively are under a motorcycle or three wheeled cycle designation. Their upcoming (per their press release) four wheeled vehicle WILL have to go through crash-testing, and that will cost a bundle. If the Alias has enough demand I would imagine that would enable them to do the crash testing much more effectively. Look at the Tesla blog to see how much work it is to bring a DOT and NHTSA certified vehicle to the US roads.

[C.K. @ Feb 7th 2008 5:42PM]

I have been following this company for some time now and none of these concept electric cars have ever gone into mass production.

These cars are going to have a hard time coming to market due to regulatory hurdles and manufacuting costs.

I would cross my fingers that's we'll be seeing these cars on the road in the near future.