Originally founded in 1907, the company stopped production in 1939 and stayed dormant until it was bought out in 2008 by a group led by Albert Lam, former executive director of Lotus Cars and chief executive of Lotus Engineering Group. It now has a headquarters on the 18^th floor of the Fisher Building in downtown Detroit, ahead of production beginning again in August.

So far, the company has only unveiled a teaser shot of its first model, which bears a close resemblance to the Lotus Exige – a link which would make sense based on Detroit Electric’s past agreements with parent company Proton Holdings in Malaysia. The Michigan factory will have a  capacity of 2,500 of the electric two-seater per year, and 180 jobs will be created in the region during the next 12 months.

The car will be revealed at the Shanghai Motor Show in April, and Detroit Electric said it would also announce a partnership with a global automaker at the event. Two further high performance electric models will begin production before the end of 2014.

‘I am very fortunate to be working with a group of very talented engineers to create something really special,’ Lam commented. ‘The sports car will allow us to demonstrate to the world our ability to build an exciting and innovative product.  This DNA will be translated across to our future sedans; all our cars will be fun to drive and deliver exceptional performance within their class.’