AIM EV Sport 01 to make dynamic debut at Festival of Speed

05th July 2023

Ethan Jupp

Is 2023 the year of the EV sportscar? It seems so, especially at the Goodwood Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard. Joining the MG Cyberster and Caterham Project V, will be the AIM EV Sport 01, a Japanese Concept exploring the idea of a fast, compact, lightweight, rear-driven electric sportscar. Sounds good to us.

Created by the AIM Company Limited, a name with history at Le Mans, that’s now exploring electric power. Having developed its own proprietary motor drive system, it’s now exploring the idea of powering a production sportscar with them.

The specs are as follows: twin APM200 motors powering the rear wheels via an advanced torque-vectoring system, with a maximum of 490PS (360kW) combined output. The motors are fed by an 81kWh battery and that power goes through 275-section rear tyres (235s shod the front wheels), shifting around 1.5 tonnes of kerb weight. Interesting enough. Then you see the thing.

It’s quite obvious the EV Sport 01 is a love letter to past greats, with simple elegant lines and rounded graphics. In silhouette, it obviously benefits from not having a big lump of hot oily metal up front, without going too ‘sci-fi’. It’s legitimately pretty, which is unsurprising when you read what the designer has to say about it.

“Designing sportscars is a complex exercise in packaging, performance and style,” said Shiro Nakamura, designer of the EV Sport 01.

“We learned from the spirit of the great sportscars of the past, helped by the RWD configuration and layout. I wanted to express dynamism with sophisticated elegance through a simple, clean design. The EV Sport 01 has minimal form language and avoids exaggerated and complicated surfaces, reminiscent of the great European and Japanese sportscars of the 1960s. Given that inspiration, it is particularly fitting we can demonstrate our car at Goodwood.”

We’re not surprised that an overwhelmingly positive reaction to a preview of the car back in April led AIM to conduct a feasibility study for a limited production run. Fingers crossed. We can’t wait to see it in action at the 2023 Festival of Speed, with AIM CEO Yukinori Suzuki behind the wheel.

The 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed takes place from 13^th-16^th July. Be sure to check back here at Goodwood Road & Racing to keep up to date with all of the latest news and announcements.

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