KleenSpeed, makers of the world-record breaking EV WX10 racer, believe that coach building could be making a comeback as it looks to establish its just-launched EV platform.
“We are a technology company first, a visionary design firm next and not planing to become a manufacturing corporation,” says KleenSpeed’s Dean Seven. “Not only will we be able to sell KleenSpeed vehicles, we can sell KleenSpeed EV platform technology to other volume automakers.”
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Seven says that KleenSpeed sees that the days of coach building returning where companies like Cadillac, Rolls-Royce and Alfa Romeo made chassis’ that were topped by Fisher Body, H.J. Mulliner and Ghia.
KleenSpeed recently debuted its prototype EV drivetrain that it hopes to sell to Asian manufacturers who may find it easier to buy an off-the-shelf design to power their cars of the near future. Its new interchangeable EV platform for an everyday commuter centers on a 40kWh lithium polymer liquid-cooled battery and will deliver a 120-150 mile range with a top speed of 85 mph. The finished design will be ready in the middle of this year.
This is not to say that the company has abandoned the idea of having its own design on the road, carrying the KleenSpeed name. To do this, rather than invest in developing its own manufacturing facilities, KleenSpeed will aim to use an automaker’s surplus production capacity to get their own car on the road, conveniently called the Kar (pictured).
KleenSpeed looks like an EV company to watch. Should it all come to fruition as planned, the KleenSpeed Kar will hit the road by 2015. In the meantime, other automakers can either buy its EV platform when ready, or licence the technology behind it and pop a top on it.
References
1.’KleenSpeed’s newest car…’ view
