Apex set to unveil AP-0 this Friday | Update
Not Geneva might be done, but the new cars are not - Apex's 1,200kg EV is coming this week
UPDATE, 09/03/2020
Assuming that London doesn't succumb to a citywide Covid-19 lockdown, the capital will play host to what we believe will be the last 2020 Geneva motor show debut. It's been a funny few weeks, after all. So it's The Bike Shed instead of the Palexpo, and a social media press conference rather than 15 minutes in a sweaty show hall for Britain's latest lightweight sports car: the Apex AP-0.
You remember the AP-0. Of course you do. For those that don't, the details are below. For those that don't want to scroll, the Apex is a 1,200kg sports car powered by electricity and created by the guys behind the Elemental RP-1. It will bring together the finest artistry with expert craftsmanship, not only affording it rapid acceleration, but also superior agility, outstanding handling and exceptional cornering ability.
And that's about all we know for now ahead of Friday's grand Shoreditch unveil. Fear not, however, as PH will be in attendance, flat white in hand and café racer chic attempted, to get the inside line on the Apex. Which, given the people involved and the spec hinted at, could be very interesting indeed.
ORIGINAL STORY, AS REPORTED 13/02/2020
With the Geneva show less than three weeks away, we're hitting peak silly season for EV startups. Certainly this is not going to be the last shadowy shot of a questionable concept you're going to be seeing before March arrives. But the Apex AP-O is slightly different. For one thing, it's been designed, engineered and built in the UK (where the tradition for low volume, specialist cars is no less venerable than the one for horse brasses or gin-making) and for another its maker is not quite the Johnny-come-lately it appears to be.
Minimal digging reveals Apex to effectively be the sister brand of Elemental - builder of the very well-received RP1. There is actually an Apex version of that car - not entirely imaginatively dubbed the AP-1 - built around the same patented carbon composite tub and delivering much the same level of hair-raising performance. But the AP-1 is intended as the amuse-bouche for the AP-0, because what Apex wants very much to be about is battery electric power.
Cue the shadowy preview. Which doesn't giveaway much aside from the fact that the firm has branched out into the business of roof-making - which means it's had a go at doors, too, not to mention what looks like a significant aero package. This is encouraging because Elemental never shied away from complexity (it produces that tub in-house) and Apex will obviously need that attribute if it is to make a dent in the fickle world of EV building.
For now it is shouting about the right things. The engineering team - which you'd assume is much the same bunch that produced the RP1 - is led by designer Guy Colborne and the AP-O's all-carbon fibre chassis is said to have resulted in a kerb weight of just 1,200kg. Almost twice as much as is claimed for the AP-1, of course, but respectable for an all-electric sports car. Let's hope the decision to not label it a supercar is also significant - the world is increasingly well stocked with the latter; the former are conspicuously few and far between.
No word yet on power or performance or even potential production - although, unsurprisingly, Apex promises: "not only rapid acceleration, but also superior agility, outstanding handling and exceptional cornering ability." The RP1 was endowed with all four; if Elemental has enabled them again in Apex format, and sourced an appropriate battery, it might have landed on the perfect side project for a low volume British sports car maker intent on prospering in the next two decades.
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