Joint Venture Resurrects Detroit Electric Brand

Date posted: 02-07-2008

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JINHUA, China/SANTA ROSA, California — The revival of the Detroit Electric brand, which was announced on Thursday, apparently will have little or nothing to do with the Motor City. Zap, the California-based electric-car startup, and China Youngman Automotive Group will use the name on electric cars and buses in 2009, the two said in a joint announcement.

The two say they plan to build a special-edition electric vehicle based on the original Detroit Electric as a "tribute for the new name of the joint venture." The Zap Alias will also carry the Detroit Electric brand.

"While joint venture officials are reviving the Detroit Electric brand, the first offices and facilities are planned not for Detroit, but California," said the two companies in a statement. "Management will be opening offices in California and evaluating manufacturing opportunities for development within the state."

The joint venture's lineup will include an electric transit bus, the Zap Alias and two family sedans, as early as the summer of 2009, said Detroit Electric Chairman Albert Lam.

The Detroit Electric brand, which was in business from 1907-'39, is probably largely forgotten by post-modern consumers. The Detroit Electric, which was advertised as reliably getting 80 miles between battery recharges, was sold in the early part of the 20th century, mainly to women and physicians.

The revival of the Detroit Electric brand appears to be a stroke of genius on the part of the joint venture, which has no roots in the Motor City. It would appear to be a psychological advantage for such vehicles to bear the nameplate of Detroit since bloggers on Web sites such as GMFastLane frequently decry the lack of a viable production electric vehicle from Detroit and trumpet their desire to "Buy American."

However, historians note that it's Hartford, Connecticut, not Detroit, that can lay claim to the title of birthplace of the American electric vehicle. The 1980 book The Automobile and American Culture says it is "Hartford, Connecticut, where Albert A. Pope and Hiram Percy Maxim began quantity production of electric automobiles in 1897, with a few gasoline cars on the side." Somehow, the name Hartford Electric doesn't have quite the same ring, though.

What this means to you: It's a brilliant blend for a global audience: an EV with roots in China and California, but bearing a Detroit nameplate. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent