Photo: DARTZ
The Wuling Hongguang Mini EV keeps selling better than the Model 3 in China. In June, it found 29,143 new owners there, while 16,515 chose a Tesla. In Europe, people are still waiting for the FreZe Nikrob EV, a car assembled in Lithuania as part of DARTZ MotorZ. According to Leonard Yankelovich, the company’s founder, we’ll start to learn more about that in about three weeks, or mid-August, if you prefer.
By then, Yankelovich plans to present the vehicle to the European automotive press and announce when the first vehicles will be in the hands of regular customers. Some have already received them, but the FreZe Nikrob EVs are currently only with security companies and shopping malls. If you happen to find any of them around, please take pictures and send them to us. If you work for these companies and already drove the small EV, get in touch as well.
“These are utility companies who don’t care about what the FreZe Nikrob EV offers. They just buy them and drive them to do whatever they have to do.”
Entrepreneur.com revealed that the Invicta Electric Group will distribute the car in Spain. However, Yankelovich said the deal is not exclusive. Another company called Famalco – from Malta – is the one that will take care of the south of Europe. Portugal is certainly included, but Italy and Greece could also be in the pack.
In fact, the idea is to have a single company taking care of Europe as a whole. Famalco and Yankelovich are discussing the creation of this distributor in which they will be partners. Despite Brexit, even the UK is in the plans: Nikrob, Yankelovich’s partner in assembly and certification, is already preparing a right-hand drive version of the car.
“We were importing all the components from China and assembling them at Nikrob, but shipping has been a nightmare. It takes two to three months for things to arrive by train or ship, so we will probably simplify that. We are now talking to Renobat to buy the battery packs from them.”
The executive stresses that the FreZe Nikrob EV is not a rebadged Mini EV. It only comes with the larger LFP battery pack and has body reinforcements to be safer than the vehicle sold in China. It also comes with ESP, airbags, new wheels, LED lighting, and an alternator that gives it 30 km more range when compared to the Mini EV: 200 km instead of 170 km.
To present the FreZe Nikrob EV to the press on time, Yankelovich decided he would speed up shipment with airplanes, but it is costing him €23,300 a pop for the press vehicles to arrive. The car has excellent chances of becoming popular, which will help him sell quite a few to get that money back. So far, his other companies show that he has no issues with making a profit.
“These are utility companies who don’t care about what the FreZe Nikrob EV offers. They just buy them and drive them to do whatever they have to do.”
Entrepreneur.com revealed that the Invicta Electric Group will distribute the car in Spain. However, Yankelovich said the deal is not exclusive. Another company called Famalco – from Malta – is the one that will take care of the south of Europe. Portugal is certainly included, but Italy and Greece could also be in the pack.
In fact, the idea is to have a single company taking care of Europe as a whole. Famalco and Yankelovich are discussing the creation of this distributor in which they will be partners. Despite Brexit, even the UK is in the plans: Nikrob, Yankelovich’s partner in assembly and certification, is already preparing a right-hand drive version of the car.
“We were importing all the components from China and assembling them at Nikrob, but shipping has been a nightmare. It takes two to three months for things to arrive by train or ship, so we will probably simplify that. We are now talking to Renobat to buy the battery packs from them.”
The executive stresses that the FreZe Nikrob EV is not a rebadged Mini EV. It only comes with the larger LFP battery pack and has body reinforcements to be safer than the vehicle sold in China. It also comes with ESP, airbags, new wheels, LED lighting, and an alternator that gives it 30 km more range when compared to the Mini EV: 200 km instead of 170 km.
To present the FreZe Nikrob EV to the press on time, Yankelovich decided he would speed up shipment with airplanes, but it is costing him €23,300 a pop for the press vehicles to arrive. The car has excellent chances of becoming popular, which will help him sell quite a few to get that money back. So far, his other companies show that he has no issues with making a profit.
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