HUMBLE, Texas — The company with a time machine is still waiting for a day that hasn’t come.
In 2015, Congress passed the FAST Act. The act allowed “low-volume manufactures” to produce up to 325 replica cars a year without requiring the vehicle to be subjected to today’s safety standards.
The FAST Act was seen as a turnkey option for DeLorean Motor Company CEO Stephen Wynne.
“Initially, we’d like to produce 20, 25 cars the first year,” said Wynne. “Then ramp it up to 50 and then hover around 100 cars per year and let the market dictate how it goes.”
Wynne has been sitting on that plan for three years.
“2019 for DMC is hopefully going to be a big year,” he said. “We’ve been saying this unfortunately for the past three years. Our hands are tied while we’re waiting for the final guidelines to be published by NHTSA.”
Initially, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had 12 months to issues specific regulations about low-volume manufacturers. That did not happen and has left small auto makers like DeLorean in limbo.
Wynne is optimistic the FAST Act guidance will come this year. However, it will take DeLorean at least 12 months to turn their Humble warehouse into a production floor.
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