An all new Swedish electric car company has pledged to build affordable electric cars in the UK, with the ‘pilot plant’ centred at the famous Silverstone grand prix circuit.
Uniti Sweden was introduced to the motoring world at a product launch event in December of last year and has already seen a pre-order value totaling over €70 million for its fledgling product, the Uniti One.
Uniti expect to be producing their fully electric car from the UK plant by 2020, and will also license their parts on a global basis by using a digital blueprint. The Uniti CEO, Lewis Horne, has recognised the UK’s determination to become a leading player in zero emission and autonomous vehicle technologies and is keen to continue a fine tradition of affordable motor manufacturing.
“The UK’s approach to vehicle production, with its focus on light-weighting and innovation in advanced materials, is an ideal model for electric car production globally,” said Horne. “It’s no secret that some of the world’s best vehicle engineers are clustered around Silverstone. When coupled with a government receptive to our ambition and goals, we couldn’t find a better home to establish our pilot production facility.”
Uniti has already established a research and development centre in Northampton and is working with a number of local British companies for the lightweight structure and the EV powertrain.
It’s expected that the first production models will be ready by 2019, with vehicles being delivered to pre-order customers throughout Europe shortly after. The Swedish company is showing faith in the UK by offering limited equity to British investors via crowdfunding campaign.