China's NextEV unveils new electric supercar in UK

China's NextEV unveiled an all-electric supercar in London, Nov 21, 2016. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

China's NextEV unveiled an all-electric supercar in London with which it aimed to challenge high-speed models made by established carmakers such as Ferrari's LaFerrari, McLaren's P1, and Porsche's 918.

The 313 kilometres per hour car, which will be designed and manufactured in the UK, was unveiled at a ceremony in London's Saatchi Gallery.

"We are the first electric car with proven track racing performance, but it is built with the look of a luxury car. Therefore we are bridging the gap between performance car and cars in everyday life," said David Hilton, Senior Design Director of NextEV.

NextEV was founded in 2014 in Shanghai, with strong backing from China's Internet tycoons. Its founding investors include Tencent, Hillhouse Capital, as well as Richard Liu Qiangdong, chairman and CEO of JD.com, Xiaomi's CEO Lei Jun, and Li Xiang, founder of automotive portal autohome.com.cn.

The new vehicle, call the EP9, is being built in the UK, and is already on sale. The factory location is secret and no mention of any investment amount was made at today's launch.

There will be six cars in the first batch, of which three have already been built. All six will be shipped to China and will go on sale with a production cost of $1.2 million. The price of the car was not revealed.

China's NextEV unveiled an all-electric supercar in London, Nov 21, 2016. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The plug-in car is not intended primarily for everyday road use, but mainly for use on a race track. Officials at the launch said the car was aimed at high net worth individuals in China.

China has provided the biggest source of growth for electric vehicle and hybrid passenger cars, with sales reaching 206,000 units over the first eight months of 2016, a 160 percent growth from 2015.

To contact the reporter: cecily.liu@mail.chinadailyuk.com