DeLorean Motor Co. now has $1 million in incentives from Bexar County and San Antonio to build a headquarters on the Southwest Side, where it plans to develop the electric cars of the future.
Bexar County commissioners have awarded the car manufacturer $513,000 in tax incentives over the next 10 years in exchange for the promise of well-paying engineering and science jobs. Last week, the city granted a performance-based incentives deal for DeLorean worth $562,500 to create 450 jobs and invest $18.5 million at its planned headquarters by the end of 2026.
The average annual salary at the facility is expected to be $145,000, with a minimum of $50,000 for maintenance employees.
Dean Hull, the company's chief financial officer, said the new global headquarters at Port San Antonio will work to fill 80 percent of its proposed 450 jobs locally. The remaining management positions will be transferred from outside Texas, including Detroit and California.
The company plans to unveil a new electric version of its iconic gull-winged coupe — famously featured in the 1980s film "Back to the Future" — on Aug. 18 at the Concours d'Elegance auto show in Pebble Beach, Calif.
Hull said he's eager to see the newly revived company "play our role in moving San Antonio into a high-tech sort of services-driven innovation economy as opposed to just a manufacturing one."
"We're really excited to be part of the community," Hull said.
The company also plans to partner with colleges and school districts while leveraging collaborations with contractors in Austin and Monterrey, Mexico, as part of a regional, cross-border "EV hotbed," he said.
DeLorean representatives have said they plan to start low-volume production of the coupe, which likely will be assembled in Ontario, Canada, in 2024. Then, DeLorean expects to branch out into an SUV model. It hopes to develop use of hydrogen fuel cells for its luxury vehicles to keep them charged, Hull told commissioners.
David Marquez, the county's economic and community development director, said the DeLorean headquarters project marks "a real leap forward in our automotive strategy" that began with Toyota more than 15 years ago and gained momentum with truck-maker Navistar opening its plant here last month.
DeLorean CEO Joost de Vries said the company was attracted to San Antonio because of the city's workforce and cluster of other automakers already in the region, including Toyota and Tesla. He expects the company to begin taking orders from customers this summer.
Since the county doesn't collect real property tax at the port, which uses that revenue for operations and maintenance at the former airbase, the incentives affect DeLorean's personal property investment.
The City Council also agreed to designate the company as a Texas Enterprise Zone Project. That makes DeLorean eligible for refunds on state sales and use taxes, a subsidy worth $1.25 million over five years. The state administers that program.
Some San Antonio council members voiced some skepticism about the deal with the company, which has withheld information about its operations, investors and finances. It comes as the field of automakers building electric vehicles is increasingly crowded and well-funded, as giants such as Ford and General Motors pour billions of dollars into EV production.
"We understand that with an innovative technology and an emerging industry, with such brand lore, would come with a healthy degree of skepticism," Mayor Ron Nirenberg said at the city meeting. "The incentive grant agreement is fully dependent upon DeLorean delivering the actual jobs to our community."
But Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff is hopeful the carmaker, with flexibility in contracting and the prospect of electric vehicles for the future of the auto industry, will prove successful.
"The incentives we give ... are based on the investment and the jobs created," Wolff said.
© 2022 the San Antonio Express-News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
