Ever heard of Laureti Automotive? We are pretty sure that most of you haven’t. That’s because the company received its “startup” tag only in 2016. Normally, we don’t bother covering brands which are new and have no connection with India. But, Laureti Automotive is a privately-owned British company with three registered offices – one each in UK, Spain and India. There’s more to its linkage with India than just a registered office. In fact, the company will be manufacturing its first-ever electric SUV – the DionX – in Puducherry.

So, do we have any confirmed set of details about the DionX? As a matter of fact, we do! It will be a pure battery-electric SUV with a 100kWh battery pack and an all-wheel-drive powertrain. The company claims that the e-SUV will be able to hit 100kmph from a standstill in 5.4 seconds and travel up to 540km on a single charge. The EV (electric vehicle) is expected to launch towards the end of 2021 and will be available in two variants. Prices are expected to hover around the Rs 40 lakh mark.

The manufacturing facility in Puducherry will have an initial capacity of 10,000 units per annum. That number will go up to 20,000 units per year by 2023. All the components and the SUV itself will be manufactured at the sole facility. Laureti Automotive will be injecting an initial investment of approximately Rs 2,577 crores (USD 370 million) into its operations in India. As of now, the company is running its design and R&D teams out its offices in UK and Spain.

To ensure that it proves the worth of its first-ever product, Laureti Automotive will run an endurance test for the DionX. The event is scheduled to take place in August 2019. The prototypes will run on a 6,000km stretch from the Himalayan town of Leh in Jammu & Kashmir to Kanyakumari. What’s more, the company will be targeting to complete the drive without exceeding 12 full charges of the on-board batteries. The car will be driven through seven major cities on the way – Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai.

To address the issue of virtually non-existent supporting infrastructure for EVs, Laureti Automotive is also hoping to get all the paperwork and investments in place to bring its patented charging systems, including home charges, to India. The carmaker wants to achieve a target of 1 lakh charging stations across the length and breadth of the country.

Laureti Automotive will start full-fledged marketing campaigns in India this year. And the endurance drive from the north to the south of India will also bring in a lot of traction. The company could very well become the first brand to localise the production of an EV in India. The DionX is expected to launch in India and Europe simultaneously. In the latter market, it will take on the likes of the Tesla X and the Jaguar I-Pace. By the time it arrives, India would have received one EV each from MG and Hyundai.