The Shanghai Auto Show in China might be making headlines these days but there is a new EV that debuted at the Automobile Council classic car show in Japan and is definitely worthy of your attention. The AIM EV Sport 01 prototype combines 600 hp of electric power with a motorsport-derived chassis and sexy curves penned by ex-Nissan design boss Shiro Nakamura.
For those not familiar with the name, AIM is an engineering firm based in Nagoya, Japan. It was founded in 1998 and got involved with endurance racing in 2005, competing in Le Mans between 2008 and 2010. Now, the company decided to step into the automotive business, creating a fully electric sportscar with a focus on driving dynamics.
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Everything started with a bare chassis that was exhibited in Goodwood, utilizing AIM’s motorsport expertise. Shiro Nakamura, former chief creative officer and senior vice president of Nissan, saw the potential of the underpinnings and stepped in to design a body inspired by classic sportscars. Nakamura who is responsible for leading the teams that designed numerous vehicles including the Isuzu VeriCross and the Nissan GT-R, now runs his own studio called SN Design Platform, thus he took the challenge of completing the project in nine months.
The new EV Sport 01 has a very compact footprint, with a length of under 4,000 mm (157.5 inches), a height of 1,220 mm (48 inches), tiny overhangs, and a clean design with sexy curves. The number of carbon-fiber body panels is kept to a minimum, thanks to the single-piece, motorsport-inspired front and rear clamshells that provide easy access to the underpinnings. At the front, there is a body-colored grille above the splitter and rounded headlights on the pronounced fenders. The sleek profile is characterized by the dropping character line and the butterfly doors that open together with portions of the glass roof. Finally, the tail has an aerodynamic shape with oval-shaped LEDs and a diffuser.
Inside there are two bucket seats upholstered in Alcantara which are mounted directly on the chassis, a leather-wrapped dashboard, and a digital instrument cluster that is also showing the feed from the mirror-replacing cameras.
The AIM EV Sport 01 comes fitted with dual electric motors mounted on the rear axle, producing a combined 600 hp (447 kW / 608 PS), on a vehicle that weighs around 1,500 kg (3,300 lbs). We don’t know the capacity of the battery pack but the company mentions a driving range of 300 km (186 miles) between charges. Yukinori Suzuki, director of AIM, said that instead of focusing on acceleration figures, the engineering team pursued driving fun, paying attention to torque vectoring and chassis tuning.
The model is currently a one-off with the company working on its development and planning on announcing a second version before the end of 2023. Still, there is a chance it will be offered for sale, with the company considering a low-volume production and trying to find ways of homologating the EV for road use. Before that, the EV will make an appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where it will participate in the hill climb.
