Frankfurt 2017: Thunder Power

Taiwanese company Thunder Power has stormed into Frankfurt with an all-new electric SUV, displayed alongside the development prototype for their upcoming four-door saloon. These cars, along with a high-powered limited-run coupé version, will start to reach production in 2019, with the SUV following in 2020.

The striking-looking EVs – all sitting on Thunder Power’s own Tesla-style modular skateboard chassis developed in Germany, with suspension developed in Italy – were designed by the company’s in-house team based in Milan, following a “Zen-inspired philosophy” which seems to involve pebbles, based on the style of the décor and freebies. They all feature a repeating-oval grille design that serves as the company logo.

The powertrain includes a 125kWh battery which facilitates a range of up to 650km, so they claim. This is despite giving life to as much as 430kW’s worth of e-motors (two at the back and an optional third at the front. The ‘Launch Edition’ coupé version of the sedan will feature a full 488kW of electric grunt and will be limited to a non-coincidental 488 units.

The debuting SUV featured a full interior with large, sculpted seats and an immense touchscreen spanning the entire dashboard. A theme of large flat surfaces seemingly suppourted by black blocks can be seen with both the main screen and the one that features on the centre console.

Completing the trend set is the promise of autonomy; the systems on these cars are upgreadeable through each of the five levels of autonomous driving – this means Thunder Power can keep customer’s cars up to date as they develop increasingly advanced systems.

Thunder Power cars will be produced in a new facility in Ganzhou, China as well as a European facility in Catalonia, Spain.