While neither side will comment directly on the end of the messy Nissan DeltaWing lawsuit directly, DeltaWing Technology Group chairman Don Panoz had a few interesting words to say on Nissan’s very DeltaWing-like BladeGlider concept today.
Responding to the BladeGlider prototype’s unveiling in Rio de Janeiro today, Panoz said in a company statement:
We’re pleased though not surprised Nissan publicly recognized the innovation and viability of the DeltaWing design. As I’ve said all along, we have the exclusive ownership of the DeltaWing architecture and its intellectual property, not Nissan nor anyone else.
We’ve been developing the DeltaWing for racing and ultimately street use since very early on, and we certainly appreciate Nissan’s brief involvement in 2012. I remember when many thought the car would fly off the track. Our race team proved this wrong, and now we see Nissan has confidence in the DeltaWing design.
Clearly things are more cordial between the two companies now that everything’s been settled in court, given that Panoz isn’t calling out Nissan at home with a gigantic newspaper ad this time.
Lest we forget where the push to develop the DeltaWing race car and its road-car offspring began, however, Panoz continued to explain that his company still has the intellectual property:
Here’s what Nissan doesn’t have: the DeltaWing™ IP, the world’s most power-dense electric motor from DHX Automotive, or an operational DeltaWing™ race car that’s been competing in motorsports for the past five years.
DeltaWing Technologies has been quietly continuing to work on their own version of a Dorito-shaped road car. They intend to share the platform between a two-passenger GT car and a four-passenger family car, with a working prototype with an internal combustion engine next in the works. The plan is to have several powertrain options for the DeltaWing road car, including hybrid systems and plug-in electric motors.
Their GT race car plans are a bit behind, but still in the works. With all the moving parts such as homologation needed to produce a GT racer, a DeltaWing representative explained to Jalopnik that they’ve hit delays with the project.
Likewise, no official plans have been made public in regards to what the DeltaWing Racing team will do in 2017. In 2017, the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship moves to the Daytona Prototype International (DPi) rules for its top class—which doesn’t appear to allow oddballs like the DeltaWing race car anymore.