Report: Russia's richest man plans to launch new city car

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Manufacturing/Plants, Europe/EU

Mikhail Prokhorov, also known as the Richest Man in Russia and hopeful new owner of the New Jersey Nets NBA franchise, is reportedly planning to launch a new city car through his Onexim Group. Reports coming out of Russia are saying that the vehicle will sport some kind of “advanced technology,” which many are taking to mean either a hybrid or fully electric drivetrain.

The car will be built in the Yarovit Motors plant in Russia, and in order to get the new city car into production, Onexim is putting in an estimated $141 million investment. That’s an amazingly small amount of money to get a new project such as this off the ground, leading many to suggest that it will never happen unless the government gets involved somehow.

In any case, the goal is to put the small eco-friendly vehicle on the road for about $12,500. At that price, the machine would be going up against such well-known and formidable competitors as Volkswagen and General Motors. We’ll just have to wait and see how this one plays out.

[Source: Inside Line]

Report: Russia’s richest man plans to launch new city car originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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