Russian startup launches pre-orders for a premium EV

Russia-based budding automaker Monarch has announced the pricing specs of its premium-rated electric vehicle also called the Monarch. Pre-orders are already open, but what do you get for the money?

The company claims that the Monarch Concept shown on the pics here comes based on a proprietary automobile platform and is 5,002 mm (16.41 ft.) long, 1,950 mm (6.4 ft.) wide and 1,420 mm (4.66 ft.) tall with 3,070 mm (10.07 ft.) between the axles.

The model will reportedly ship in two specs called the S 200 and S 400. The former will make do with 272 PS (268 hp / 200 kW) and a 60-kWh battery. It will sprint from standstill to 100 km/h (0-62 mph) in five seconds flat and max out at 250 km/h (155 mph). The range will amount to 372 km (231 miles).

The S 400 will benefit from 544 PS (536 hp / 400 kW), a larger 80-kWh battery and 407 km (253 miles) of range. It will allegedly be able to hit 100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.2 seconds, which is just 0.1s behind the maxed-out Tesla Model 3, and reach 260 km/h (161 mph).

The company originally intends to produce only ten cars for its partners and major corporate clients starting from U.S. $150,000. It then plans to launch mass production of the S 200 ($58,100) and S 400 ($61,000) models. All prices exceed those announced a year ago several-fold.

It remains to be seen whether Monarch succeeds with its EV at all. The Russian company was involved in a hilarious incident last December when it announced a public presentation of a non-drivable, unpainted design study and then failed to bring the vehicle mock-up to the event altogether, blaming the carrier for not delivering it on time. In turn, the carrier company blamed Monarch for failing to pay transportation fees.