It's hard to know where to start with a new company that has a name this utterly brilliant, but rolling in from Taiwan comes the thunder - or rather, the Thunder Power Sedan electric vehicle (EV), which boasts some really great stats. And, just in case we didn't mention it, an awesome name.
Exterior
Expecting some awful rip-off of a European car, were you? Or a very rough approximation of a Taiwanese Tesla? Well, shame on you. Thunder Power (it just gets better and better, every time you write it...) has gone to no less a design house than the Milanese magicians of Zagato and the end result is a wonderful-looking car, all things considered - we really like the concentric circles grille, a striking feature, which is also Thunder Power's logo. And it can be broadcast into the sky by the Sword of Omens.
Underneath the sleek body is a platform dedicated to being part of an EV. There's a 125kWh lithium-ion modular battery pack, designed to be lighter and cheaper to produce than rival packs, and also possessed of charge balancing to slow battery ageing and degradation. What Thunder Power ("Ho-oooo!") calls a 'hybrid body structure' keeps the Sedan EV's weight below two tonnes and the flexible chassis allows for easy extension of a range of Thunder... Thunder... Thunder Power vehicles, including an SUV, crossover and compact car.
Interior
If we had the power of sight beyond sight, we might be tempted to say the Sedan EV's interior previewed a new type of passenger car cabin. It has a dashboard that is the full width of the EV, and it's called TP-Touch - it shows absolutely every single piece of on-board data possible to prevent the driver being distracted by screens lying here, there and everywhere.
Mechanicals
The company name might be amusing but it is deadly serious about taking the fight to Mumm-Ra... sorry, Tesla Motors. Available in either 230- or 320kW (313- or 435hp) guises, Thunder Power is claiming a range in excess of 650km on a full charge - and also 300km-worth of juice just from 30 minutes of mains power. Performance is brisk, the Sedan EV 320kW hitting 100km/h from rest in less than five seconds dead, while top speed is 250km/h.
Anything else?
Also showcased at the Frankfurt Motor Show is a Thunder Power all-wheel drive Race model (also known as the Cheetara... OK, it isn't, we're kidding), demonstrating the possibilities of the EV platform. Thunder Power plans to launch the Sedan EV in Europe in 2017, and then China and the US in 2018. The main manufacturing takes place in China but a European production site will be confirmed soon, while the main R&D centre for Thunder Power is based just outside Milan.
Anyway, whatever happens, we sincerely hope that in the near future, a pair of special editions of the Thunder Power will be launched, called WilyKat and WilyKit. Although we have no idea how or why that would happen