They already produce an electric sports car, their CEO thinks an SUV is on the table
by Josh Conturo, on
Ever since the early 2000s, there has been a market for modern cars that visually and audibly resemble and have the same flare as sports cars from yesteryear. Old British sports cars were at the heart of this as they were always a joy to drive, but were notoriously unreliable and a pain to live with daily. In fact, the whole point of the original Mazda Miata was to capture the magic of the lightweight British sports car without the constant overheating and oil leaks.
Then, in the early 1990s, Wiesmann debuted its first car, the Samuel L. Jackson-approved MF3. Their whole goal was to combine swooping classic-ish British styling with modern german engineering. Several years later, the MF4 followed, and then the MF5. The company laid dormant for several years, but now they are back.
Project Thunderball
The Project Thunderball backbone was developed with Roding, the people that made the E-legend EL1.
Their latest creation is named Project Thunderball – an all-electric sports car capable of 680 horsepower and 811 pound-feet (1100 Nm) of torque. The juice comes from an 83 kWh battery mounted in the middle, with one electric motor for each rear wheel, all of which runs on an 800-Volt architecture.
Supposedly, acceleration and economy are nothing to scoff at. The 0-60 time is quoted as 2.9 seconds and the battery is good for over 300 miles of WLTP range, according to Wiesmann. The interior doesn’t look like an afterthought either, with matte carbon fiber, supple-looking leather, and sharp gauges coating nearly every surface.
However, like every company, Wiesmann has to make money, and in the automotive industry, nothing looks more like dollar signs right now than an electric SUV.
A Wiesmann electric SUV?!
The shifter paddles control the regenerative braking to mimic a normal gearbox.
The platform that Project Thunderball sits on was developed in partnership with Roding, a German firm that also developed the Audi Quattro-looking E-Legend EL1.
As we have seen making one EV backbone can lead a manufacturer to use it for several models. This means that Wiesmann has already done one of, if not the hardest part on the road to making an electric SUV.
In an interview with Autocar, CEO Roheen Berry said, “We’ve spent so much money making this platform and software, and getting so much out of it. We’re not in any hurry, but if we have enough customers and there is a demand, it would not be a very difficult transition for us to do…I think there are quite a few SUVs coming. We’ll see where the market is.”
The EV architecture Wiesmann is already using for Thunderball had an emphasis on retaining their signature feel and agility, while also loading up on the tech front. For example, the paddles that would normally control a gearbox instead control the regenerative braking, which is programmed to mimic the feel of a conventional transmission.
If Wiesmann really does build an electric SUV with these underpinnings and stays true to its philosophy, it might be within a shout of being the best-handling SUV on the market judging by this company’s track record.
Source: Autocar