Shiro Nakamura, long-time chief designer at Nissan, will be at the Goodwood Festival of Speed next week to show off the AIM EV Sport 01 – a new compact two-seat electric sports car touting compelling performance and weight figures.
Nakamura retired as vice-president of Nissan in 2017, having worked in the Japanese firm’s design department since 1999 and overseen the designs for the Cube, Qashqai, Leaf and GT-R, to name but a few. He now heads up independent outfit SN Design Platform.
Developed for Nagoya-based engineering firm AIM, his new sports car concept is designed to be as engaging to drive as possible. It’s currently undergoing dynamic testing and will make its debut on the Goodwood hillclimb.
The 1425kg EV Sport 01 uses two liquid-cooled, high-performance electric motors (one on each of the rear wheels) with a maximum speed of 10,000rpm.
They draw their reserves from an 81kWh battery split into four packs and deliver a combined 483bhp and 582lb ft of torque – figures usually the preserve of much larger and heavier machines.
We therefore suspect it will be able to achieve a sub-6.0sec 0-62mph time.
Using a blend of lightweight materials, its body panels and monocoque chassis are made from carbonfibre to keep weight down, while aluminium makes up much of the car’s frame.