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Detroit Electric, a new joint venture between ZAP and China's Youngman Automotive Group, plans to release a limited number of cars based around the Detroit Electric, an electric car produced by the Anderson Electric Car Co. in the early part of the 20th century.
Anderson produced various models of the Detroit Electric from 1907 to 1939, and had high-rolling customers including Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. It was also featured on a US stamp, and today, TV host Jay Leno has some of the cars in his collection.
When the opportunity came up to buy the brand, ZAP and Youngman decided to go for it, said ZAP co-founder and CEO Steve Schneider. The reissued car will be based on a model from around 100 years ago.
"For the bride to be, or the bride of many Junes ago, a Detroit Electric," read a company advertisement from decades ago. "No other bridal present means so much, expresses so perfectly all you need to say."
Back in 1917, a Detroit Electric car cost anywhere from $1,775 to $2,375 (£890 to £1,190) -- in other words, fit for the proletarian or plutocrat. The cars could go 65 to 100 miles on a battery charge, but only at speeds ranging from 6-25mph.
The company advertised quite a bit in Cosmopolitan, and during the 1910s, Anderson employed 1,100 people.
But although the company was growing, prices continued to drop on combustion cars, which started to sap sales in the 1920s. The stock market crash of 1929 then took its toll and Anderson lingered through the 1930s before collapsing in 1939.Detroit, in its new incarnation, will start coming out with electric economy cars in 2010.
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