Aehra SUV teased: a new type of electric car

► Start-up Aehra readies two all-new EVs
► Saloon and SUV on sale from 2025
► Price and range to rival Model S, Taycan

Time for some new thinking about what electric cars look like and how they’re made. Says who? Says Aehra, an entirely new company that’s set to unveil two new premium EVs before the end of the year.

It’s now given our first look at the new Aehra SUV – an all-electric, aero-optimised SUV.

Featuring a three-metre wheelbase, and a smattering of touchscreen across the length of the dashboard, the Aehra SUV would do well at ‘electric concept car bingo.’ There’s even a further readout in the steering wheel.

The interior is configured differently depending on if the car is in motion or stationary; in Drive mode only key information such as speed is displayed, but when parked the cars screens can extend upward for a home theatre experience. That’s the idea, anyway.

Chief executive Hazim Nada tells us: ‘We saw a gap in the way electric vehicles were being built. That’s what we tried to address. We started from first principles, and not inheriting architecture and mindsets from a century of vehicle design. What, from the outside, should a vehicle respect? And what, from a customer perspective, should it inspire? When you marry those two you end up with our products.’

Aehra EVs from scratch

The first two cars from Aehra will, he says, inevitably be referred to as a saloon and an SUV, because of their dimensions, but he promises that when we see them later this year they will not look like other SUVs and saloons. Take a look at the first sketch of the SUV (below) and see if you agree.

‘We see a natural progression for electric vehicles to follow that nobody’s really pushing for yet. The shapes of electric vehicles should not look as they do today. When we first started proof-of-concept processes, we took practically all the sedans in circulation, all the sedans being proposed for production on the EV side, and we overlapped them. And they are literally overlappable. They all have this frunk in the front, they all have these empty spaces that are seldom used by their customers. There are many inefficiences that, once you address them, once you get rid of them, allow for a very substantial shift in the emotional effect of the design, and efficiency, and also liveable space in the cabin.’

Expect the new cars to be comparable on range and price to the Tesla Model S, Porsche Taycan and Mercedes EQS.

Nada was inspired to start the company after many years working with great success as an oil trader. ‘I was fighting daily in a market that I thought would lose its strategic role, and would have to lose its strategic role. If it didn’t we would all be in trouble. I had the blessing of having a little time off in late 2018, early 2019, and that period allowed me to think about this energy transition, and what was happening in electric vehicles.’

In his free time, he’s also been a pilot and a skydiver, and with Aehra co-founder Sandro Andreotti developed what at the time was the world’s largest vertical wind tunnel. That interest in aerodynamics is a key part of Aehra’s DNA. 

What about the cars?

The cars will, he promises, look not just different but also highly appealing. Having ex-Italdesign styling wizard Filippo Perini on board as chief designer should help.

There will also be some new production processes, involving a simpler way of mass-producing carbonfibre body panels.

The company has an R&D centre in Milan, but its business model involves partnerships with outside suppliers, rather than developing and making everything in-house. The factory is likely to be in (or near) Italy, up and running in time for 2025 production. Europe, the UK and the US will be the first markets, with ‘salons’ (rather than traditional dealerships) in main cities and a strong online presence.

The aim is 25,000 saloons and 25,000 SUVs a year. Nada is confident that the industry’s current supply-chain problems will be sorted by then.

The current disruption – not just semiconductor shortages, but also Covid and the war in Ukraine – will if anything help Aehra get off to a strong start compared to rivals burdened with legacies of outdated factories and slowly evolving product line-ups.

Is now the best time to start a company?

‘This is the best time. From a strategic standpoint, all the other producers are stuck in these problems, all the vehicles that have been developed over the past few years and have started prodction recently are unable to ramp up. By the time we hit production, the market will not have reached its full capacity. And here we come with vehicles that have redefined the shapes, and are pushing the envelope further. From that perspective, it’s a great time.’

The name? It’s a mash-up of the Latin for epoch and the modern Italian for aerodynamic. If it all turns out as well as Hazim Nada predicts, then remember that you read it here first.