Elextra aims for Tesla with its 2.3sec-to-60 saloon

When electric cars first arrived in the mainstream, they were mostly unpleasant looking things, and the target of poor milk float analogies. Now, the definition of an electric car appears to be an overtly sleek saloon with a two-point-odd 0-60 time.

Well, it does if you’re Tesla, Faraday and now Elextra. Called merely ‘Elextra’, this Swiss-designed, German-made four-door looks quite spectacular. Just look at the jet fighter-esque arrow rear wing, melted almost seamlessly over the bodywork.

Then there’s the hilariously out of proportion front and rear doors, and the almost hidden front headlights. If you’re anything like us, you’ll have idly sketched cars exactly like this on the back of your exercise book in dull maths lessons.

Let’s hope its designers were actually paying attention in their maths lessons, though, for numbers are key in a car like this. The headline figures are its 2.3-second 0-62mph time, making it marginally – if not relevantly – quicker than the Faraday and Tesla, which have had their own accelerative contest in recent months.

There’s an electric motor on each axle, making it four-wheel drive, with power shifted between the front and rear wheels to optimise traction. Good job, with Ferrari 488 GTB levels of power to deal with. Elextra isn’t saying how much power each of the, um, Elextra’s motors make, but their combined output never tops 671bhp.

Its top speed is limited to 155mph, no doubt to help maximise the range figure, which is quoted as 373 miles. Expect that to tumble if you’re testing out its acceleration, which is currently the quickest in the production car world. Until Tesla works something quicker into its ECUs, no doubt.

Elextra says it’s making 100 cars, each hand-crafted with a carbonfibre tub at its core, much like McLaren’s supercars. The bodywork on top will be carbon, too. Expect lots of parking assist functions and presumably some autonomous driving capability to keep that pricey carbon undamaged.

More information – including price – will be revealed later in the year. Quite how much it costs possibly depends on the results of this quote, nestled in the promo material. “Investors are welcome to come forward for open opportunities,” says Elextra. It appears some backing is desired, perhaps needed, to get this Tesla rival off the ground. Reckon the Swiss company stands a chance?