AIM EV Sport 01 reveals itself as a light and agile electric sports car

It was designed by the same man who designed the Isuzu Vehicross and the Nissan GT-R.

Japanese engineering company AIM (completely unrelated to the ill-fated AOL Instant Messenger from 20 years ago) revealed its first all-electric passenger car known as the AIM EV Sport 01 during this year’s Automotive Council in Japan

The design of the two-door sports car was penned by none other than Shiro Nakamura, Nissan’s former senior vice president and creative director who signed off on the designs of models such as the latest generation GT-R, Leaf, Murano and Cube. Also, before joining Nissan, Nakamura was responsible for design at Isuzu, where he wrote Vehicross and Gemini.

In other words, it’s safe to say that AIM’s new sporty EV has a big-name designer behind it, and it shows. With a hint of Nissan 350Z at the front and some hints of Porsche Carrera GT at the rear, the EV Sport 01 looks sleek and determined.

Gallery: AIM EV Sport 01

And judging by the first specs released by AIM, the little two-seater should hold its own on the road against better-known rivals, with two electric motors making a combined 600 horsepower and weighing in at just 3,306 pounds (1,500 kilograms). , courtesy of a carbon fiber body that measures less than 13 feet (4 meters) long.

The high-voltage battery powering the Sport 01 allows for an estimated maximum range of approximately 186 miles (300 kilometers), but the Japanese brand stopped short of delivering on the pack’s capacity.

Established in 1998 in Nagoya, Japan, AIM focuses on general automotive development and is best known for engineering engines for endurance racing, most notably the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. But seeing how the car industry is rapidly moving to an all-electric future, and considering that AIM already had an electric motor developed for London buses, the Japanese company contacted Shiro Nakamura to design a body for the its fully electric chassis.

“After achieving certain results at Le Mans, we jointly developed an engine with a British company in anticipation of the arrival of the era of electric vehicles, and it was used on buses in London,” said Yukinori Suzuki, director representative of AIM. “We developed the chassis. Instead of focusing on acceleration performance like today’s EV sports cars, we pursued the fun of driving by controlling torque vectoring and turning.”

As the first installment of the company’s New Energy Vehicle (NEV) project, the EV Sport 01 will likely be a low-volume product with an above-average price tag. However, it’s exciting to see small businesses eager to enter the EV world with stylish, performance-oriented models.

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