Detroit Electric, a resurrected name brand made popular in the early 1900s for electric vehicles, unveiled its first vehicle Wednesday night in Detroit.
DETROIT- Detroit Electric, a resurrected name brand made popular in the early 1900s for electric vehicles, unveiled its first vehicle Wednesday night in Detroit.
The limited-edition sports car, named the SP:01, is based off the Lotus Elise’s aluminum platform and is set to go on sale in target markets by the end of August 2013.
SP:01 features a 180-mile driving range, top speed of 155 miles per hour and goes 0-62 mph in 3.7 seconds, making it the world’s fastest pure-electric production car, according to officials.
The SP:01 -- starting at $135,000 -- is planned to spearhead a“diverse family” of all-electric production cars, including two other high-performance models that are planned to enter production by the end of 2014.
Detroit Electric unveiled the vehicle at a private event at the Fisher Building, its new global headquarters. Less than 1,000 models of the SP:01 will be produced in order to generate a reputation for the brand, according to officials.
The vehicle is set to make its global public debut later this month at the Shanghai Motor Show, where officials will announce a “major partnership with a global carmaker.”
Don Graunstadt, Detroit Electric CEO of North America Operations, previously told MLive.com that Detroit Electric has a licensing agreement to use Lotus platforms for at least the first two vehicles, but the partner is a “much larger Chinese OEM (original equipment manufacturer).”
When announcing the vehicle and company last month, Graunstadt said the vehicles will be produced in Metro Detroit. The company and production facility is expected to have an annual capacity of 2,500 sports cars and about 180 employees.
Unveiling the vehicle in the Motor City, according to Graunstadt, was important to the company and its new chairman and CEO, Albert Lam, former Group CEO of the Lotus Engineering Group and Executive Director of Lotus Cars of England. The brand was revived by Lam in 2008.
Every SP:01 will come with a three year, 30,000 mile manufacturer's
warranty with an optional extension to five years and 50,000 miles for the
battery.
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