A new car company, backed by Russian billionaire, Mikhail Prokhorov, wants to produce an affordable hybrid car which would cost less than US $10,000 (£6,200).
The company, called Yo-Auto, is debuting at the Frankfurt Motor Show this week, exhibiting a a range extended petrol engine concept but the company says its first models will be conventional petrol cars.
The new car maker is a joint venture between truck maker Yarovit and Prokhorov’s Onexim investment group.
Work started last month (August) on a new plant near St Petersburg and Prokhorov, who owns the American basketball team, the New Jersey Nets, says his ultimate goal is for the factory to produce a unique eco-friendly hybrid car with a budget price tag. The plant will have an initial annual capacity of 45,000 and this will double in its second phase, when work started on the factory comes on stream in the second half of 2012.
"We’ll have to purchase car parts which are not produced in Russia, including a complex element base of the control panel, electronics, and some elements of the suspension system. Our main goal is not to worsen the quality," Biryukov said.
Prokhorov is the world’s 39th richest man, according to Forbes, with a fortune estimated at $13.4bn. After graduating from the Moscow Finance Institute he made his name in the financial sector and went on to become one of Russia’s leading industrialists in the precious metals sector. While he was running Norilsk Nickel, the company became the world’s largest producer of nickel and palladium.
Last December, Prokhorov presented three prototypes of a hybrid car, including a hatchback, a van and a crossover costing between $12,000 and $15,000.
A Yo-mobile concept (pictured) has a top speed of 75mph, a cruising range of 249 miles and is claimed to do 67mpg.
Source: Headlineauto.com
