Chinese Startup Le Supercar Plans to Take on Tesla With New EV

BOLD RIDE

Copyright © 2015 Bold Ride LLC.

 

Posted by Jeff Perez

 

The name Le Supercar may sound like some bad car joke, but it’s a very serious business venture by Chinese electronics mogul Jia Yueting. If you happen to be familiar with Chinese businessmen, that name should sound familiar. Yueting created LeTV, essentially a Chinese equivalent to Netflix.

 

Now, Yueting is turning his focus to the automotive world. With a staggering $1.2 billion investment into the project, there’s no shortage of funds. According to Fast Company, the $1.2 billion acquired by Yueting came from the stock of LeTV—the very same company that will be leading the initiative.

So what will it take for Le Supercar to become une réalité? First and foremost, a good design, which the company seems to have in spades. The crude sketches we see here feature a sleek front end, morphing into a sort of sporback styling. From what we can tell, it looks very interesting.

 

The second most important feature needs to be a good powertrain, though, we still don’t know exactly what kind of electric motor will be under the hood. With a huge investment and over 600 employees—including former Lotus, Tesla, and GM workers—we should expect a very similar formula to today’s modern EVs. Though, with the name ‘Le Supercar,’ maybe something a bit quicker.

Expect to see it next year at the Beijing Motor Show, and hitting the road sometime in 2018 if all goes as planned.