Yeah, it was really one of those things where the boss man says it must happen so, therefore it must happen, even if he's blatantly wrong and it's a terrible idea.

John DeLorean was basically the Musk of the early 80s car manufacturer scene, but actually had some engineering chops which is why his meteoric rise wasn't just purely based around a reality distortion field or having a shitload of money to do whatever he wanted, but gradually became a problem of both of those over time.

The actual DeLorean car was a great example of the sunk cost fallacy and the bad idea creep that's basically guaranteed to arise from cultivating that sort of cult of personality. It was supposed to release in the mid/late 70s, and be an affordable car that was class-revolutionising for the best fuel economy, speed, acceleration, safety, and ease of ownership. (Any of that sound familiar?)

Instead, the car came out several years later than it should have, was marketed with the dumbest campaign of all time (gold plated cars), and achieved none of its intended goals: it instead trailed behind the competition in every single category.