Hong Kong brothers debut $195,000 electric supercar to take on Tesla

The 305 kilometres-per-hour AP-0 from Apex Motors will be unveiled in a live-streamed event March 13 after the Geneva Motor Show was cancelled

Production is due to start in the fourth quarter of 2022, ramping up from an initial target of 500 units in the first year. Photo: Apex Motors

In a Chinese electric-vehicle market packed with big hitters like Tesla, two brothers from Hong Kong are carving out a niche catering to motor racing enthusiasts. Their 305 kilometres-per-hour electric super car will be unveiled next week.

The car, code-named AP-0, is the brainchild of Jason and Gary Leung, who founded Apex Motors. At around $195,000 (Dh716,274) plus tax, the two-seater is priced to compete with Tesla’s Roadster and will be made in the UK. Production is due to start in the fourth quarter of 2022, ramping up from an initial target of 500 units in the first year.

To prove the car’s carbon fibre technology, aerodynamics and chassis design, Apex is building a limited number of gasoline-powered versions called the AP-1, built to customers’ preferences. I took a ride in one in the hills of Hong Kong in January before the coronavirus outbreak. For a moment I thought I might die.

I can’t claim my whole life flashed before my eyes but I definitely saw the highlights as we sped along the winding roads of the New Territories, one of the three main regions of Hong Kong. That’s not to say the Apex AP-1 is unsafe. It just feels fast. Really fast.

The car’s low-slung design heightens the sensation of speed, as does the feet-up driving position, open cockpit and the fact that I was wearing a racing helmet that threatened to fly off my head when the driver put his foot down.

The AP-1 weighs only 620 kilograms thanks to its carbon-fibre design and can go from zero to 100kph in 2.5 seconds, something I experienced when we overtook a shell-shocked learner driver struggling with a hill start. That’s the same sort of acceleration of a Bugatti Chiron. The electric version is expected to be almost twice as heavy, but a tad quicker in acceleration and with a similar top speed.

Apex describes the AP-1 as a rival to the $1.7 million McLaren Elva or the slightly more expensive Ferrari Monza SP2. Powered by turbocharged 2.3-litre Ford EcoBoost engines, only about 10 will be made, with a base price of HK$1.68m (Dh790,000). It’s designed and assembled in the UK by engineers experienced in Formula One and Formula E.

The company says the AP-0 will cover up to 515 kilometres on a full charge and can recharge to 80 per cent in 20 minutes with a fast charger. The electric car was due to be unveiled in Geneva this week, but the motor show was cancelled at the last minute because of the coronavirus outbreak. Apex now plans a live-streamed launch event on March 13.

While production will initially be in the UK, there are plans to expand manufacturing to Shenzhen, China, where Apex is based, said 25-year-old Gary, the younger of the two Leungs. Jason is 27. They grew up in Hong Kong and Australia, where both studied engineering and nurtured dreams of motor racing.

The brothers see China as a key market, a challenging proposition given that the auto industry there is going through a prolonged slump. There are already hundreds of EV companies, prompting the government last year to trim subsidies and weed out the weaker players.

Beijing has signalled it won’t continue reducing subsidies at the same pace this year, a move the Leungs welcomed. They said they’ve had “great support” from governments in China, Hong Kong and the UK.

* Bloomberg

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