NextEV Aims To Release Electric SUV With Performance Of Tesla Model X “But Cheaper” In US By 2019
The Chinese electric vehicle startup NextEV is aiming to release an all-electric SUV with performance “as good as or better than” the Tesla Model X and priced below that offering in the US market by late 2018 or early 2019, according to recent reports.
The model will be offered under the firm’s new “NIO” brand — which is the brand that the 1,342 horsepower electric supercar known as the EP9, which we reported on recently, will be sold under.
The electric NIO SUV will reportedly feature a 70 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery pack and a range of 330 miles per full charge, according to the company’s co-founder. That range relates to the current European testing cycle (NEDC), though, so range will presumably be quite a bit lower.
Automotive News provides more: “Chinese electric vehicle specialist NextEV will target the US as the first foreign market for its SUV rival to the Tesla Model X, NextEV co-founder Jack Cheng said at the launch of the company’s first road car late last month. ‘It’ll be positioned at Audi and BMW but with a Toyota price,’ Cheng said. US sales will start in late 2018 or in the beginning of 2019, he said.”
Continuing: “NextEV is the brainchild of William Li, who made his fortune partly through an online portal providing up-to-date prices to car dealers in China. He plans to make a success of NIO by providing excellent customer service, something he said Tesla has failed to do in China.”
At the recent launch event in London, he apparently told journalists: “I have a Tesla. It me took three months to install a charger at home.”
The NIO electric SUV will apparently be manufactured in China through a partnership with JAC Motors.
Interesting altogether, but “with a Toyota price” is an ambiguous statement. If pieced low enough, say ~$20,000, such an offering would likely sell pretty decently in the US. Even if it is offered by a Chinese startup.
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