Aehra joins premium EV party

China has had a tsunami of EV start-up brands led by BYD, Nio and Ora, and the US has even had its fair share (think Tesla, Rivian, Lucid), but not a single one has come from the car industry’s staid heart of Europe – until Aehra.

The Milan-based electric vehicle maker, which launched its first prototype design in Milan overnight, plans to have both an SUV and a sedan on sale by the second half of 2025 to take on the likes of Tesla, Lucid and the top-end of the EV ranges from traditional car-makers.

And that includes the all-new BMW i7 and the Mercedes-Benz EQS electric limousines.

Combining a three-metre wheelbase with (relatively) light weight and a design by former Lamborghini design chief Filippo Perini, the Aehra SUV should deliver performance and range that will promises to break the luxury EV mould.

It will employ ultra-short overhangs at the front and rear, and uses forged carbon-fibre for the chassis and much of the body to keep the long-range EV’s weight below 2000kg.

“The AEHRA SUV represents a radical combination of cutting-edge sustainable materials, ultra-advanced EV technology, smart manufacturing technologies, pure Italian design, and of course, a seminal moment in our company’s history,” Aehra founder and CEO Hazim Nada said.

“We are not in the business of doing what Lamborghini or Ferrari are doing, but we have the price target of ultra premium.

“We don’t see anybody in the market doing what we are doing. We see something that nobody else is doing so we are doing it.”

More than 120 people are working on the Aehra production cars as of today, plus an external Italian-based engineering consultancy, in the expectation of beginning global deliveries after the European summer in 2025.

“Supremely comfortable, beautifully balanced, and graceful, the SUV ushers in a new era of EV style and sophistication, and signifies the next successful milestone on AEHRA’s strategic journey to a roll-out of both our vehicles to global markets in 2025,” Nada said.

Nada is not a regular car guy, having come from a background in investing and aerodynamic research, and has now invested tens of millions of euros and 18 months of time in the development of the first prototypes.

“I never thought about making a car company. It was never an aspiration of mine. I am not a car freak or fan.

“EVs were looking too alike. I come from an aerodynamics background and I know that’s not necessary.

“It was a series of observations with an inevitable conclusion – we should do it ourselves.”

The other key factor in the birth of Aehra has been the sheer quantity of EV research and contract engineering that is being done in Italy and shipped out to China, the US and the rest of the automotive world, without ever hinting that the country was a haven of EV technology.

“With all the engineering research and universities, there was a significant amount of battery power working for foreign companies and there was not a single Italian start-up taking advantage of the Italian know-how,” Nada explained.

“As we were doing this project we were talking to people on the challenge of electrification in Italy and they were just following what the others were doing.

“I was convinced that companies had to change. There needed to be a focus on more aero, more Italian design for Italian companies and more good deployment of the Italian technology, so the more it made sense to turn our research into a car company.

“The moment we saw we could pursue it, was when Filippo Perini got involved.”

As yet, there is no confirmed battery technology nor drivetrain technology nor even an in-cabin multimedia technology confirmed for the Aehra brand, but Nada insists that’s all part of the plan.

By 2025, he explained, they will be commodities that will be relatively easy to pick and choose from, without having to invest in re-inventing existing technologies.

Aehra will, though, develop its own chassis and body and interiors, and will make a final call on the battery and EV powertrain suppliers by next year.

H2 2025 for the launch.

The two main engineering differences between Aehra’s cars and what the rest of the world is doing will be aerodynamics and weight, Nada insisted, but Perini added that it also looks more like a supercar than a purely functional SUV.

“With the Aehra SUV, we have shunned the conservative constraints that have encumbered all other car manufacturers in their approach to designing EV vehicles to date,” Perini said.

“Instead, we have taken a highly courageous approach. And at Aehra, this mindset drives not just the design of our vehicles, but every aspect, including engineering, the layout of the interior, the state-of-the-art sustainable materials we use and how we are redefining the entire customer journey.

“With the SUV, we have created a vehicle that goes far beyond the conventional standards set by the automotive industry for an SUV, and sets new benchmarks for style and comfort.

“We have used a monobody construction, which, while used widely in Italy in the past, is now normally reserved for supercars only.

“We have taken an equally radical approach to aerodynamics, which play a central role in the design, driving characteristics and efficiency of the SUV.

“The SUV does not look like an SUV. It looks like a sports car,” Perini said.

“It is a sports car in terms of what it expresses.”

While Eehra will buy in the powertrain, it insists the chassis and platform will be all its own work, because it doesn’t see any other premium brand attacking weight in the way it wants to, and it needs its active aerodynamics to work to deliver range and efficiency.

“We explored taking ready-platforms from others, but decided against it,” Nada said.

“A big part of what we are doing is carbon-fibre materials for main crash elements of the vehicle, so the car will be less than two tonnes.

“The number we are targeting is exactly the right volume for that kind of carbon-fibre production.”

The sedan and SUV will be modular, sharing the same chassis platform and 70 per cent of their production components, including the three-metre wheelbase and the promise of a luxury space for “four NBA player-sized occupants”.

“To do something in the electric segment, the established OEMs are falling behind, Nada insisted.

“There is still a significant lag compared to Tesla and Lucid and we can get much lighter cars and performance that these vehicles could reach, and their range.

“We are very identifiable as an Italian brand and that always was a goal to put ourselves in that niche.

“The only high premium brand is Lucid, and that does not attach itself to anything we have in Europe.”

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