John Zachary DeLorean was an Romanian-American engineer, inventor, and executive in the U.S. automobile industry. He is widely known as founder of the DeLorean Motor Company, as well as for his work at General Motors.

The DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) was an American automobile manufacturer formed by automobile industry executive John DeLorean in 1975. It produced just one model, from early 1981 to late 1982—the stainless steel DeLorean sports car featuring gull-wing doors. Its history was brief and turbulent, ending in receivership and bankruptcy in 1982. In October 1982, John DeLorean was videotaped in a sting operation agreeing to bankroll drug trafficking, but was acquitted at the subsequent trial on the basis of entrapment.