UK – The electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer recently secured additional funding and its SP:01 sportcar has undergone further development. The vehicles will be made at a dedicated new facility in Leamington Spa, where the workforce is set to increase to 80 personnel by the first quarter of 2015.
The company is based in Detroit, Michigan, but has now established EMEA headquarters in Houten, The Netherlands. The US HQ will not only look after Detroit Electric’s finances and sales activities in the Americas but will eventually be responsible for the development, engineering and assembly of the SP:01.
“While Detroit was our preferred initial assembly location, the regulatory process for the production and sale of the SP:01 in the US has taken longer then expected,” said Albert Lam, chairman and CEO, Detroit Electric. “That means the assembly operations have to be located in Europe to allow us to bring the vehicle to market globally in line with our timing plans.”
With a top speed of 155mph (249kmph) and a 0-60mph time of 3.7 seconds, its maker claims that the SP:01 will become the fastest production EV in the world when it enters the European and Asian markets later this year, followed shortly after by its US launch. The vehicle is intended to spearhead a family of all-electric production vehicles, including a 2+2 supercar and a sedan which will be engineered, developed and assembled at an upcoming facility in Michigan.