Piëch to Launch New EV Brand at Geneva

Piëch Automotive announces it will unveil an electric-powered sports car concept called the Mark Zero at next month’s 2019 Geneva auto show.

The Swiss-based electric-vehicle startup was co-founded in 2016 by Anton Piëch, the son of Ferdinand Piëch, the influential former chairman of the Volkswagen Group, and great-grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, designer of the original Volkswagen Beetle and founder of Porsche.

Piëch has partnered with Rea Stark Rajcic, a Swiss industrial designer.

The first official photographs of the Mark Zero reveal a retro-inspired 2-door coupe. It is based upon a new EV platform developed by Piëch Automotive, which is claimed to employ around 200 staff.

In a departure from the skateboard-style platforms of many other EV startups, the architecture developed by Piëch Automotive places its battery pack along the center line and within the rear axle – a layout suggesting it may be rear-wheel drive.

The Mark Zero’s battery is sourced from what Piëch Automotive describes as a Sino-German joint venture previously not active in the automotive industry. It uses cells claimed to boast highly efficient thermal properties, allowing them to be cooled by air rather than liquid, as with many new electric vehicles.

The battery also is claimed to support rapid charging at high voltages.

Piëch Automotive promises a range of 311 miles (500 km) on the latest European WLTP test cycle for the new coupe, which is said to weigh less than 3,968 lbs. (1,800 kg).

Piëch Automotive, a publicly listed company headquartered in Zurich, has no official affiliation with the Volkswagen Group.