Shanghai-based electric-vehicle startup NextEV unveiled an all-electric supercar in London, with which it aims to challenge such high-speed models as Ferrari's LaFerrari, McLaren's P1 and Porsche's 918.

The car, with a top speed of 313 km/h, was designed and will be manufactured in the United Kingdom, was unveiled at a ceremony in London's Saatchi Gallery.

"We are the first car with racing car performance but ... 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 at NextEV.

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

The new vehicle, the EP9, is being built in the UK with a production cost of $1.2 million. The price, the factory location and the amount invested were not revealed at Monday's launch.

Six cars will be in the first group, of which three have already been built. All six will be shipped to China and have already been sold, the company said during the ceremony.

The plug-in car is intended primarily for use on a racetrack.

China's sales of electric and hybrid passenger cars reached 206,000 units in the first eight months of the year - a 160 percent year-on-year growth.

cecily.liu@mail.chinadailyuk.com

(China Daily 11/22/2016 page1)