Carbon Motors Corporation was founded in Los Angeles, California, by Stacy Dean Stephens and William Santana Li (a former police officer and former Ford executive, respectively) in 2003.

In July 2009, the company relocated their headquarters to Connersville, Indiana, with plans to invest $350 million into converting a former Visteon plant there.

[7] Another Indiana startup, Bright Automotive, was forced to end operations the week before after applying for the same loan in 2008 and being unable to continue waiting for the DOE to act on the application.

[7] On March 13, 2012, Secretary Chu testified before a Senate hearing partly related to claims made by Carbon Motors CEO William Santana Li regarding the politicization of loans granted by the DOE stating "Politics is not a factor, period.

It was designed in part by American law enforcement officers for the sole purpose of producing a vehicle to be most effective to police.

[13] The price was intended to be competitive considering the cost of equipping a conventional car for police work and how long each vehicle lasts.

However, the vehicle was removed from the remastered version of the game released in 2020 due to Carbon being defunct and the car never entering production.