This SC01 is a Chinese-built lightweight sports car arriving later this year

Big news in the not-very-big world of small electric sports cars. A British start-up by the name of the Small Sports Car Company (SSCC) has announced that it is bringing a Chinese-designed and -built lightweight electric sports car to the UK later this year.

Called the SC01, it’s already on sale in its homeland where it goes by the not-very-catchy name JMEV 01, but the tie-up with SSCC means we’ll see it soon on our shores too. And you thought it was just an army of SUVs China was building over here…

Anyway, some numbers. We’re told combined output is 429bhp from two electric motors, and it’ll see off the 0-62mph sprint in circa 2.9 seconds. Range stands at 311 miles from a 60kWh battery – although that’s on China’s more generous CLTC test cycle.

Oh, and there’s also the small matter (quite literally) of its 1,365kg kerbweight – around 500kg less than the MG Cyberster. We’re told it gets mid-engined sports car proportions, a super lightweight body built around a steel spaceframe chassis, and double wishbone suspension to help it deal with our less than polished roads.

All sounds very promising to us, and much welcome in a world that has quickly tired of overpowered and unattainable hypercars. Is the lightweight electric sports car market – which the MG Cyberster has pretty much had to itself – finally about to hot up? 

Mind you, the SC01 isn’t going to have it easy. It’s no secret that there’s an Alpine A110 EV on the way, and there’s also the British-built Longbow Speedster (and Roadster) plus Caterham Project V to contend with. But if the SC01 can beat all of those to market…

Feng Xiaotong, creator of the SC01, said: “My ambition is to create the kind of sports car that enthusiasts will fall in love with. I am myself such an enthusiast, and grew up admiring the great British pioneers who believed that driving should be about lightness, simplicity and the connection between driver and machine. The SC01 is my tribute to that philosophy.”

No price has been given yet, but back home it costs from ¥229,800 (about a not-very-expensive £25,000). First examples of the SC01 will arrive on British soil later this year, with right-hand drive production cars delivered from April 2027.

Like it?