In this week’s Ask Nathan:
- Are they going to build the DeLorean Omega EV pickup truck?
- Nissan Aryia pricing makes no sense.
- What happened to camping corner?
The first question comes from a comment sent to asknathan@tflcar.com, regarding a sketch someone saw of the DeLorean Omega pickup.
Q: (via AskNathan@TFLcar.com)Â Just curious if you saw the DeLorean Omega pickup truck concept.
Now that they have a product, I wonder if they will build this?
– Anonymous
A: No, they seem to have shelved the idea for now, and only one sketch page is viewable. Still, there is a beefy off-road concept out there Yes folks, it’s also called the Delorean Omega.
The DeLorean Motor Company manifested a ton of buzz at the 2022 Pebble Beach Car Week, because they unveiled their Alpha V. It’s an all-electric GT with butterfly doors, and a very sleek design. Now, if you head to DeLorean’s corporate gallery on their webpage, you’ll find many cool looking concept sketches with a note somewhere saying “not pursued.” One that looks interesting, if far too future-tech to be built, is the DeLorean Omega. It appears to be an off-road-bias SUV of sorts, and it reminds me of a batch of high-tech machines that are taking on the Dakar rally race.
DeLorean Motor Company is building the new Alpha V using components (read: batteries) from other providers, and it appears that many of the mechanical components will be sourced from a third party. That being said, it looks like there’s enough interest to get investors and buyers on board – at least for the first product.
It will be many moons before we see if the automaker can produce something as bombastic as the Omega.
Stay tuned!
— N
The next question comes from my brother; because he’s angry and old, regarding the pricing of the Nissan Ariya.
Q: (Via: Telephone – because emails and texting are beneath him… and heavily edited) Okay “Mr Car Expert,” tell me why the Nissan Ariya is so expensive!
It STARTS at $46,000, which is well over $10,000 more than my new(ish) Nissan Leaf + with options! As you know, the Mach E and ID4 are more than competitive. (Heavily edited for content)
Make this make sense to me!
— Angry, somewhat infirm, older brother
A: Buck up buttercup, Nissan has their reasons.
We’ve only sampled the Nissan Ariya, but the EV appears to be slightly more premium than the base model Mach E and ID4. On top of that, if is vastly more advanced than your Leaf +. Honestly, I don’t know if that price is too much, but the bits I’ve seen look pretty impressive.
If you go to the Ariya website, you’ll see that the 2023 Nissan Ariya Platinum + has a base price of $58,950. Now we’re almost in Cadillac Lyriq territory. That model comes with the E-4ORCE AWD system with dual motors that makes a total of 389 horsepower. While the FWD model is rated at up to 310 miles, the AWD drops to 265 miles.
The entry-level Nissan Ariya VENTURE+ has the highest mileage rating at 304 miles. This model (along with all, but the Platinum + model) comes with FWD and one electric motor. Maximum horsepower is 238 for these models.
We will have a better understanding of what makes the Ariya special in the near future. While we have driven pre-production models (and Roman was pretty impressed), we have yet to drive the production-ready models. That will come soon.
I do agree that the base price is a bit higher than I expected. That base price is about $4,000 over the base price for the outstanding Hyundai Ioniq 5. As such, the Ariya has a hell of a fight on its hands.
– N
p.s. Mom liked me better
The last question comes from a fan of Camping Corner.
Q: Hi Nathan. I just saw some of your Camper Corner videos including the funny one with your pop up trailer. Are you still making these videos?
Do you still have that pop up trailer? Like ten years ago, or maybe more my dad had a pop up that we used a lot. I sort of miss those days, but I have my Eclipse so I wont be towing one anytime soon. I guess it about being nostalgic and you kind of look like my dad! LOL! I’m just kidding. Thanks!
Also I wanted to thank you for answering my question last week. I am honored to get feedback from you and the guys at TFL!
— Lizzy
A: Hi Lizzy!
Thanks for another kind email. Yes, Camper Corner will return in the spring of 2023. Over the past year, we’ve been hard at work with our Northern Lightning overlanding series. All of the time we’ve spent on the planning and and logistics around the series meant we had to take a time-out from Camping Corner.
Andre and Roman promised me that we will revisit the series soon!
Thanks again for reaching out.
– N
Speaking of Northern Lightning:
