China and the U. S. U. S. EVs have spawned about a thousand EV startups over the past decade, but Italy’s classic automotive force is moribund, so far.
Aehra made its debut in Milan last night with a giant sports SUV weighing less than 4,000 pounds, despite the four-wheel drive of an all-electric battery-powered powertrain.
It’s designed to give a European startup the Lucid Air as well as Tesla’s high-end diversity and will sit above machines like the Mercedes-Benz EQS and BMW i7.
Designed by Lamborghini’s former chief designer, Filippo Perini, the Aehra SUV (it doesn’t have its final call yet) will be accompanied by a similarly sized sedan when planned production arrives in 2025.
Aehra plans to manufacture between 20,000 and 25,000 SUVs and sedans on a year-by-year basis, priced between $160,000 and $180,000 at its hotspots. Sales are expected to begin in the U. S. It was used in the U. S. and Europe before expanding into China.
Built primarily from forged carbon fiber, the Aehra SUV will be large enough to accommodate 4 NBA-sized occupants in a device with the promised performance of a supercar.
With a wheelbase of 3 meters, the Aehra is scheduled for deliveries in a package that will “break the mold” for SUVs and EVs.
“The Aehra SUV represents a radical blend of state-of-the-art sustainable materials, ultra-advanced EV technology, wise production technologies, Italian natural design and, of course, a pivotal moment in our company’s history,” said Aehra founder and CEO Hazim Nada. .
“We are here to do what Lamborghini or Ferrari do, but we have the purpose of ultra-premium pricing.
“We don’t see the market doing what we do. We see something that no one else does, so we do it. “
Aehra plans to use tilt doors for the sedan and this EV SUV when it launches the Array variants. [ ] in 2025. Photo: Aehra.
Nada said that he and others in similar industries have noticed that Italian experts in engineering, design and BEV sell their products to corporations around the world, adding that the U. S. has not been able to sell their products. The US and China, without advancing the Italian electric vehicle industry.
“Electric cars are boring for the general public,” Nada said.
“It’s very simple to build a very rugged electric vehicle. It’s not that simple to build an electric vehicle that has its own character. And I think that’s one of the elements that Italian design and craftsmanship have to express. “
Nada is not an automotive corporate founder, has experience in investments, oil trading and aerodynamic research, and plans to invest 700 million euros to put the Aehra into production.
“I never had the idea of starting a car company. This has never been one of my aspirations. I am a car enthusiast or fanatic.
“Electric cars were too similar. I come from an aerodynamic environment and I know it’s not necessary. “
“It was a series of observations with one inevitable conclusion: we do it ourselves. “
Aehra promises that its SUV will be more effective than existing electric cars thanks to a combination of low weight. [ ] and sublime aerodynamics. Photo: Aehra
Still, starting an automotive company, even in the EV space, has proved too complicated for corporations across China, and Nada provides some important points about Aehra’s origin.
Nothing made his fortune trading oil, gas, grain and cement out of London through his Lord Energy company, and then added it by pursuing his hobby of physics with AeroGravity, the world’s largest vertical wind tunnel near Milan.
“We’re spending as much as you think,” Nada insisted.
“The way we evolved the fabrics we use and the way the production line looks like us, it’s very smooth compared to traditional car production. “
To date, more than 120 people are approaching Aehra’s production cars, as well as an external engineering consultancy in Italy, with the expectation of starting global deliveries after the European summer in 2025.
The mirrors of the Aehra EV will be based on a camera, with a design inspired by the front fascia of MotoGPArray. [ ] winglets. Photo: Olaf Pignataro
“With all the engineering studies and universities, there is a significant amount of battery studies running for foreign corporations and no Italian start-ups took advantage of Italian know-how,” Nada explained.
“While doing this project, we talked to other people about the challenge of electrification in Italy and just followed what others were doing.
“I became convinced that corporations had to change. We had to concentrate on a more aerodynamic, more Italian design for Italian corporations and a smarter deployment of Italian technology, so it made more sense to turn our studios into an automotive company. “
“The moment we saw that we could continue when Filippo Perini got involved. “
Aehra says it will be kind to put its SUV and sedan into production until 2025, buying Array. [ ] Ready-to-use batteries, electric motors and MMI systems. Photo: Aehra
One of the reasons Aehra’s progression is smooth in terms of investment is that it plans to buy everything from multimedia systems and software to batteries, electric motors and even autonomous driving technologies, rather than doing it themselves.
By 2025, Nada explained, all these technologies will be commodities and corporations like yours will be able to be among your suppliers, without having to invest in reinventing existing technologies.
However, it will expand its own chassis, frame and interiors, and make a final call to suppliers of batteries and powertrains for electric vehicles over the next year.
“The SUV doesn’t look like a SUV. Se sees it as a sports car,” Perini said.
“It’s a sport in terms of what it expresses. “
The two main engineering differences between Aehra’s cars and what the rest of the world does will be aerodynamics and weight, Perini said, all wrapped in an SUV that looks like a supercar.
“With the Aehra SUV, we have moved away from the conservative restrictions that have affected each and every automaker in their electric vehicle design technique to date,” Perini said.
“Instead, we took a very courageous approach. And at Aehra, this mindset guides only the design of our vehicles, but all aspects, adding engineering, interior design, the complex sustainable fabrics we use, and how we redefine the entire visitor journey.
“With the SUV, we have created a vehicle that goes beyond the traditional criteria set by the automotive industry for an SUV and sets new standards for taste and comfort.
“We use a monocoque construction that, widely used in Italy in the past, is now usually reserved only for supercars.
“We have taken a radicality similar to aerodynamics, which plays a central role in the design, driving characteristics and power of the SUV. “
Aehra plans to use Italian taste to give character to the blandish world of high-performance electric vehicles. . . [ ]Array Photo: Olaf Pignataro
While Aehra will buy the powertrain, he insists the chassis and platform will be all his work, as he doesn’t see any other premium logos attacking weight the way he wants, and he wants his active aerodynamics to work. Scope and effectiveness.
“We explored bringing platforms to others, but we don’t,” Nada said.
“A lot of what we do is car fiber fabrics for the main vehicle crash, so the car will weigh less than two tons.
“The number we’re targeting is precisely the right volume for this carbon fiber production. “
The sedan and SUV will be modular, sharing the same chassis platform and 70% of its production components, adding the three-meter wheelbase and the promise of luxury for “four occupants the size of an NBA player. “
“To do in the electric segment, established OEMs are lagging behind,” Nada insisted.
“There’s still a big lag for Tesla and Lucid and we can get cars and features that are much lighter than what those cars can achieve, as well as their range.
“We are very identifiable as an Italian logo and it has been a purpose to place ourselves in this niche.
“The premium logo is Lucid, and that doesn’t join anything we have in Europe. “