Perseus, a new British-headquartered premium electric vehicle brand, will launch with a direct-sales model when it launches its new SUV by late 2027.
The new business will sell its new premium SUV directly to consumers with an online sales platform and will also have physical brand experience centres.
The new SUV will be built on an existing OEM platform and use the same as of yet unannounced OEM’s already established service network.
The new brand is being led by Moroccan entrepreneur Mohammed Yehya El Bakkali and Perseus’s senior team is backed by former Jaguar Land Rover, Lotus, Bentley and INEOS Automotive executives.
As part of the company’s launch announcement, Perseus said it has established some soon-to-be-announced global OEM and tier-1 partnerships that will make it possible for it to bring its first mass-market vehicle to production in the next two years.
Part of its plans is to license a “proven, state-of-the-art EV platform from a European OEM” that will underpin its first SUV model.
It is also collaborating with a “pre-eminent Italian design and engineering house for interior and exterior styling, pre-concept development, prototyping, serial engineering, testing and validation requirements”.
To speed up time to market and to “de-risk execution”, the company is engaging with a European contract manufacturer to build its first model to “OEM-level quality production standards”.
It said this approach will enable Perseus to “avail itself of the most advanced manufacturing processes and industrialisation capabilities”.
El Bakkali, founder, chairman and CEO of Perseus, said: “The launch of Perseus marks an exciting new chapter in global automotive innovation.
“Our ambition is clear: to create a premium value British EV brand that delivers emotionally captivating design, cutting-edge performance and a best-in-class intelligent AI-enabled and software-defined customer experience.
“Crucially, our development and commercialisation strategy is also clear.
“Perseus already has agreements in principle with a European OEM Group to licence a cutting-edge EV platform and a leading Italian styling house to meet all design and engineering standards.
“We have also formed partnerships with a world-leading automotive software specialist, and a European contract manufacturer to ensure the first Perseus SUV model will reach customers by late 2027.”
Perseus said it will reveal further details of its new model and OEM partnership in the coming months.