German EV company Next.e.Go, maker of the four-seat, sub 3.5-metre Life city car, hopes to build a microfactory in the UK.
Speaking at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, a spokesman explained: “Our plan is to set up a factory in Britain. We have the investment and we're looking to expand our reach.”
The firm currently has a production facility in Aachen, Germany, and holds licences to build microfactories in Bulgaria and Greece.
Each has a production target of between 10,000 and 30,000 cars per year. After going into voluntary insolvency during the pandemic, it recently re-emerged having raised almost £70 million in investment.
The rear-wheel drive Life has a claimed city range of up to 240km (149 miles), 107bhp of peak power output and a top speed of 70mph.
It's 3348mm long, 1748mm wide and 1581mm high, making it shorter but wider and higher than the Smart Forfour.
Sitting on an aluminium spaceframe chassis with a plastic outer skin, it weighs 1150kg - around 50kg less than the Smart.
It has been on sale since 2019 in select European markets, retailing at around £15,000.
Variants of the Life include a Sport model, featuring larger wheel rims and more dynamic styling, and the e.Wave X, a more rugged model sporting black cladding around the bumper, wheel rims and skirting of the car.
Its maker has also previously revealed bus and city SUV concepts.
The spokesman declined to comment on the timeline for potential UK production reaching fruition or acknowledge if a potential production location had been identified.
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