The Fourteenth Floor

Seven years ago John Zachary De- Lorean was something of a corporate boy-wonder. Aged 48, the dashing director of General Motors Car and Truck Group oversaw a combined operation of seven divisions, whose collective sales exceeded $25 billion per year. The most conspicuously consuming of young executives, DeLorean possessed organizational acumen, an unerring sense of marketing, and a panache suggesting that his yearly salary of $650,000-plus was but a rung on the ladder leading to the eventual presidency of the automotive giant.

Then—as inevitable as his 17-year rise through the ranks—came his sudden disappearance. News releases at the time of his resignation spoke of his taking on the administration of the National Association of Businessmen and a lucrative Cadillac dealership in Florida. Rumors hinted at a more ambitious plan: that DeLorean intended to form his own automobile company in order to build an “ethical sports car.” To some, these rumors of the wayward son returning to compete with his former employer seemed as outrageous as his expansive lifestyle. Meanwhile, the question of whether or not his fledging Irish-based company, boasting the sleek aluminum DMC-12, will ever come to haunt GM seems of little consequence. For the time being, this unauthorized account of DeLorean’s disenchantment with the corporate juggernaut will give GM plenty to worry about.

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Alan L. Miller

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Seven years ago John Zachary De- Lorean was something of a corporate boy-wonder. Aged 48, the dashing director of General Motors Car and Truck Group oversaw a combined operation of seven divisions, whose collective sales exceeded $25 billion per year. The most conspicuously consuming of young executives, DeLorean possessed organizational acumen, an unerring sense of marketing, and a panache suggesting that his yearly salary of $650,000-plus was but a rung on the ladder leading to the eventual presidency of the automotive giant.

Then—as inevitable as his 17-year rise through the ranks—came his sudden disappearance. News releases at the time of his resignation spoke of his taking on the administration of the National Association of Businessmen and a lucrative Cadillac dealership in Florida. Rumors hinted at a more ambitious plan: that DeLorean intended to form his own automobile company in order to build an “ethical sports car.” To some, these rumors of the wayward son returning to compete with his former employer seemed as outrageous as his expansive lifestyle. Meanwhile, the question of whether or not his fledging Irish-based company, boasting the sleek aluminum DMC-12, will ever come to haunt GM seems of little consequence. For the time being, this unauthorized account of DeLorean’s disenchantment with the corporate juggernaut will give GM plenty to worry about.