Exclusive: China's Stratos UK-bound as £50,000 EV sports car

China's archetypal 'mid-engined' sports car volition scope the UK successful April 2027 nether the billing of "the car Lotus should person built".

The SC-01 is built connected a dedicated spaceframe chassis with the artillery mounted down the 2 seats and an electrical centrifugal connected each axle.

Already connected merchantability successful China (where it's portion of EV shaper JMEV's line-up and named the Yichi 01) and immoderate different planetary markets, including Italy, it volition present beryllium made successful right-hand drive, with prices starting from astir £50,000.

Mark Cotton is the founder, brag and for now, sole worker of the Small Sports Car Company. The erstwhile BMW, Bentley, McLaren and RML enforcement has acquired the UK import rights for the SC-01 and is adjacent to securing 3 trader partners to merchantability and work the car, arsenic good arsenic different partners to negociate each distribution, financing and aftersales.

The SC-01 was created successful China by Feng Xiaotong, who astir a decennary agone acceptable up a steadfast called China Car Custom (or the Tianjin Gongjiangpai Automobile Technology Co), specialising successful restoring and upgrading modern classics.

A keen enthusiast and driver, Feng spotted a spread successful the marketplace for a existent electrical sports car that majored connected handling joy, offered the close level of performance, wasn't excessively dense and represented simple, accessible amusive - hence the examination to Lotus's historical output.

Cotton has created the SSCC marque for the UK marketplace and is besides helping Feng enactment connected motorboat plans for different right-hand-drive markets.

He has deliberately kept the institution thin astatine the commencement and kept income targets modest: astir 160 cars successful the archetypal year, rising to 360 successful the 3rd year.

Cotton said the task doesn't request overmuch measurement to beryllium a occurrence and "it's casual to warrant a specializer product, designed arsenic an enthusiast driver's car, that sells 200 to 300 units a year. Based connected [my] data, that's not a stretch."

He archetypal approached Feng, who has backers for his sports car astatine location successful China (including tech elephantine Xiaomi), aft quality of the task archetypal emerged successful the media, including via an Autocar communicative successful 2023, and plans person present evolved to the constituent wherever helium is acceptable to spell nationalist with the car's UK launch.

Cotton told Autocar the SC-01 isn't an EV each astir acceleration and going accelerated successful a consecutive enactment but alternatively 1 with "an affectional transportation and a soul", comparing it to the Lotus Elise successful the mode it drives.

Its spaceframe chassis is bespoke, arsenic are each the large components that are sourced successful China, wherever the car is besides built.

The 60kWh artillery pack, which nets a scope of 311 miles connected the Chinese trial cycle, isn't a structural portion of the car. Instead it's designed to beryllium removable and casual to service.

It sits betwixt the axles for that mid-engined consciousness and debased down for a centre of gravity that is claimed to beryllium little than that of a Porsche 911.

The suspension is bespoke and manually adjustable, portion the operator tin power betwixt the 2 motors powering the car for either front- oregon rear-wheel drive, oregon harvester them for four-wheel drive.

The motors are identical and nutrient combined peaks of 429bhp and 413lb ft of torque to springiness a 0-62mph clip of 2.9sec - arsenic speedy arsenic the Ferrari 296 GTB.

The SC-01 weighs 1380kg, immoderate 500kg much than an Elise but astir successful enactment with what the upcoming Alpine A110 EV is expected to weigh.

Crucial to minimising value is simply a elemental interior that features lone a tiny driver's show (so nary cardinal touchscreen), thrust selector buttons and a manual handbrake.

It shuns each ADAS too, truthful volition beryllium sold present nether either Individual Vehicle Approval oregon Small Series Type Approval regulations, depending connected the measurement that is reached each year.

"It's a large sports car archetypal earlier it's an EV," said Cotton. "When I archetypal heard astir the project, I knew it was close for the UK, and Feng's passionateness for getting the car present is strong."

Opinion: Can they marque tiny big?

Low-volume sports cars from chartless brands, shed-based oregon otherwise, are thing caller connected these pages. Many person been large to thrust but adjacent truthful person fallen down commercially. A bully car doesn't ever marque for bully concern erstwhile the volumes are this small.

What the SSCC SC-01 has implicit the likes of upcoming rivals, including the Caterham Project V and Longbow Roadster, is that it already exists and is successful production; it's not immoderate prototype that's a minimum of 2 years away.

The question, then, becomes simply: volition SSCC enactment arsenic a marque and a commercialized cognition here?

Boss Mark Cotton said that successful China the SC-01 is bringing younger buyers into the sports car space, attracting an assemblage that wouldn't spell adjacent accepted sports cars similar the Lotus Elise. Maybe that volition play retired elsewhere too.

Cotton has credibility, with a inheritance successful bringing caller brands and models to marketplace - astir notably astatine McLaren and Bentley.

While the projected numbers look small, successful twelvemonth 3 it's inactive a car a time astatine 360. Maserati sold conscionable 255 cars successful the UK successful the archetypal fractional of this year. Yes, the Italian marque should beryllium embarrassed to person sold less than fractional arsenic galore cars arsenic Lotus, but that shows however pugnacious it tin beryllium to displacement metal.

Then there's the name: SC-01 isn't catchy capable and sounds similar the engineering squad were near to grip that portion of the task arsenic well.

Cotton seems unfastened to making a alteration earlier it reaches showrooms, which is promising, arsenic a car similar this needs a sanction you volition remember. Dragon, perhaps?