For anyone unfamiliar with Heuliez, it is a French specialty manufacturer that builds a number of niche vehicles and Body-in-White rolling chassis structures for several major carmakers. More recently Heuliez has been building folding hard-top roofs for the likes of Peugeot and General Motors, but soon the company will be building and selling its own line of compact all-electric vehicles.

Heuliez will unveil a new all-electric concept vehicle at this week’s Paris Motor Show and has announced that it will bring to market a new model based on the show car by as early as April 2010. According to Automotive News, the car will be called the ‘Friendly’ and Heuliez will build around 10,000 units per year at its Cerizay factory in France.

The Friendly has been designed for urban use and will feature a compact body capable of fitting three adults. Like the McLaren F1, it will feature a front center driver position, with the two passenger seats positioned in the rear. This arrangement means the car could easily be sold in both left and right-hand-drive markets, but there has been no word on which markets the vehicle will be sold in apart from France.

There will be up to 27 different variants for customers to choose from, with variable options such as body length, motor output, and battery type. Depending on these variables, the Friendly will have a range of between 100km and 250km, and a top speed of about 110km/h. Charging will be done using an ordinary household power outlet.

India’s Argentum Motors recently bought a controlling stake in Heuliez and has already stated that it eventually plans to use its Indian production base to start building Heuliez products for sale in Asia, and the first of these could easily by the new Friendly all-electric vehicle.