There’s no shortage of Chinese-backed startups attempting to be the next Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA].
A few that have been reported on here at Motor Authority include Atieva, Detroit Electric, Faraday Future/LeEco, Karma, National Electric Vehicle Sweden and TechRules.
Another is NextEV, which competes in the Formula E Championship and whose top driver, Nelson Piquet, Jr., won the electric car racing series’ inaugural season.
NextEV plans to release a full range of electric cars starting with a new supercar that could be revealed as early as this year. The new supercar will deliver upwards of 1,000 horsepower and be able to accelerate from 0-60 mph in under 3.0 seconds.
NextEV electric motor plant
The development is being handled at a facility in Munich, Germany, while the eventual production is said to be pegged for a location in the United Kingdom.
“The first car is designed to attract attention and to show what we can do from a technology standpoint,” NextEV Co-President Martin Leach told Autocar. “But we will ultimately offer a wider range of models.”
It seems launching their brands with unobtainable supercars is the du jour for the new crop of electric car startups. Faraday Future showed us the 1,000-hp FFZERO1 in January while TechRules emerged with the jet turbine-equipped AT96 TREV in March.
However, NextEV has some potential. The company has already proven itself in motorsport and recently made some significant investments in electric motor production. It also has procured talent from some automotive heavyweights—including BMW, Ford Motor Company [NYSE:F], Italdesign Giugiaro, Tesla and Volkswagen. Leach, for example, previously headed Maserati as well as Ford of Europe.
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