India is stepping up to the world in terms of electric cars as well with car makers announcing India-built electric cars for the local market one after the other. The latest in the line is a London-based enterprise, Laureti, that has announced their plans to build their Dion-X SUV in India starting 2021.
Led by Emmanuel Laurent and Marcus Paleti, Laureti’s focus is on the European and Indian electric market. The London-based company has already developed their flagship SUV, the Dion-X, and has begun testing the same. As a part of the testing program, the Laureti Dion-X will embark on an epic journey starting from Leh, the northern-most part of India to Kanyakumari, the southern tip, covering over 6000kms enroute.
Laureti aims to finish the entire journey in less than 12 full charges to validate their claim of its 540kms per charge as it fights through mountain roads, desert, city traffic and challenging road surfaces through this journey to prove its mettle.
Overall, the Dion-X is a luxury five-seater SUV and it is estimated to retail at close to Rs 40 lakhs in the Indian market, competing with the likes of the Skoda Kodiaq, the Volkswagen Tiguan and the Toyota Fortuner. The styling is a little radical for Indian tastes, but it does look premium and large and should appeal to buyers.
It gets the Rolls-Royce-like palace-doors and the interior is wrapped in quilted leather upholstery. It gets all the bells and whistles which include a panoramic sunroof, a large central screen for infotainment, individual screens for the rear passengers, a mini-refrigerator et al.
Laureti has already begun working in consonance with the Puducherry government to build a local facility with the capacity to build 10,000 vehicles per annum by 2021 and it can be scaled up to 20,000 units by 2023, investing over 2,500 crores.
