Italy-based EV start-up Aehra recently garnered attention with the debut of its yet-to-be-named SUV. It’s just an exterior debut, which means it’s time to take a look inside this crazy five-seat crossover with doors.
As you can probably imagine, there is a lot more craziness in it. With the butterfly/gullwing door combination fully open, it’s nearly impossible to miss the single view that stretches unbroken across the width of the dashboard. In this case, it occupies an intrusive space in front of the windshield, but fear not. This widescreen serves two purposes and thus, two settings. While driving, most of it is retracted to the dashboard, leaving only the upper portion visible with the digital instruments and navigation information visible. Permanent digital displays for exterior side mirrors are mounted on both sides.
When parked, the screen expands until it’s basically a large mobile office monitor. Or a mobile home theater system. Or a mobile meeting room. Aehra offers these suggestions and more for configurable screens, but they’re not the only screens on the dashboard. A smaller touch screen mounted low serves as the control center for the main infotainment functions, then there’s the steering wheel. It’s like a Tesla with yoke-themed wheels, though Aehra says it’s an ode to race cars and airplanes. Either way, design makes room for other a small screen on the top wheel rim, showing basic vehicle info such as speed and range.
The driver and passengers enjoy ample legroom thanks to the SUV’s long wheelbase and short overhangs. The electric platform allows the floor to be completely flat, giving rear seat passengers the ability to recline and recline for long journeys. Aehra will offer the SUV in four-seat or five-seat configurations.
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Specific details like cubic feet for storage, headroom, or even screen size aren’t offered yet. The SUV is still a digital concept at this stage, said a spokesperson for Aehra Motor1.com that prototype construction will begin once the suppliers and contractors for the various subcomponents are confirmed. That’s expected to happen as early as the second quarter of 2022. Meanwhile, the startup says “substantial private funding” has been secured.
If all goes according to plan, Aehra will unveil the design of its second vehicle, the sedan, in February 2023. Customer deliveries are scheduled for 2025.
