Ferrari, Maserati, and Now Aehra. Meet Italy’s First Fully Electric Supercar Startup.
3 min
Italy is known for supercars from companies such as Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, and Pagani. Those companies are plugging in—or at least thinking about it—but Italy now has an upscale fully electric startup. Aehra, based in Milan, calls itself “a new global ultra-premium electric automotive brand.” It launched an SUV last December and, with a first showing at the Milano Monza Motor Show this month, a sedan—both riding on the same battery platform.
The cars are known simply as the Sedan and the SUV, and they will hit the market in 2026, with pre-orders starting next year. They look sensational and promise high performance, in part because the company’s chief design officer, Felipe Perini, came from Lamborghini, Audi, and Italdesign, and its chief engineer, Franco Cimatti, is ex-Ferrari and Lotus.
Aehra photo
The car shown in Milan will be virtually identical to the 2026 production model, Perini said in a statement.
“At Aehra, we do not believe in creating unrepresentative concept cars,” he said, citing “classic Italian design principles and the world of nature” as inspirations.
The Aehra vehicles will be priced between US$175,000 and US$197,000. They will use recyclable carbon-fiber composite for a lightweight structure. High-premium and luxury buyers are being targeted.
“When it comes to that segment, people are not ready for Chinese and American brands,” CEO and co-founder Hazim Nada told Reuters. “Europe is still the reference.”
The international success of Tesla may challenge that assumption, but there’s no question that people all over the world love Italian design. Aehra plans to sell to North America, Europe, China, and the Middle East.
Both the sedan and SUV will be very fast, with a top speed of 164 miles per hour. Each will have a range of an impressive 500 miles, courtesy of a 120-kilowatt-hour battery sourced from Austria’s Miba Battery Systems. The cars might be produced by a contract manufacturer somewhere in Europe, at least initially, Nada said. The company could also buy an existing plant or build a new one, he said.
The sedan sports four uplifting gullwing doors and is a striking cab-forward design, with the windshield extending over the front wheels, and no visible door handles. The limited overhangs imply a spacious cabin.
What can be seen of the interior is in conceptual images, with a rectangular steering wheel, a flat floor (common in EVs), a center console and a door-to-door display like Mercedes’ Hyperscreen. But there’s a major difference. Aehra’s screen can be extended upward when the vehicle is parked, “instantly transforming the [car] into a home theater or an office environment,” the company says. “With the screen fully extended, the occupants can relax and enjoy a movie or transform the interior into your personal office, ideal for video conferencing.”
The edges of the screen will function like exterior mirrors, relaying visual information from twin cameras. There’s also a second, oblong display mounted in the middle of the leather dashboard, controlling such functions as navigation, heating and cooling, and infotainment.
Aehra photo
The SUV, with an aerodynamic design that’s almost as sleek as the sedan, will be offered in four- and five-seat versions. It features a steeply raked front windshield, and a fastback rear roof. Like the sedan to some extent, it will accommodate home theater, meeting room, and lounge configurations. The carbon-fiber-framed seats will be in Italian hand-stitched leather, and “airline first-class comfort” is promised with accommodations for “four full-sized NBA players.” Rear seats can be reclined.
There’s much about the Aehra vehicles still to be revealed, including details on the powertrain. The only thing certain at this point is that both of the two initial models will be attractive.
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Dolly Parton’s former Hollywood Hills residence has hit the market for $7.95 million. The nearly 4,700-square-foot home features four bedrooms, panoramic city-to-ocean views, a pool and spa, library, media room and private outdoor spaces.
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A residence in the Hollywood Hills that was once home to the late Dolly Parton has hit the market for $7.95 million.
The country singer and her late husband, Carl Dean, bought the house in 1985 for $750,000 and sold it in 1990 for $1.2 million, according to listing records.
The property, aptly known as the Dolly Parton House, hasn’t been on the market for 25 years, according to the listing with Edward Tinney of Nourmand & Associates and Kurt Rappaport of Westside Estate Agency.
It’s unlikely Parton and Dean would recognize the house as it stands today though; it was rebuilt in 2009, and upgraded further in the years since, the listing said.
Across its almost 4,700 square feet, the house has living and dining rooms with walls of glass that frame the views that stretch across the city to the Pacific Ocean.
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There’s also a library and media room, a family room and an eat-in kitchen. There are four bedrooms, including the primary suite, which has a coffee bar, a fireplace, two bathrooms, a space for an office or gym, a walk-in closet and a private deck.
Outside, there’s a pool and spa, with space for outdoor dining and entertaining. Plus there’s a two-car garage, electrical infrastructure for an EV charger and a Zen trail, according to the listing.
The seller, who couldn’t be reached for comment, paid $2.05 million for the home in 2001, records with PropertyShark show.
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Parton died on August 25 at the age of 80 after a battle with cancer.
She released 50 studio albums over the course of her career—resulting in 27 gold and platinum albums—and starred in films including “9 to 5,” “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” and “Steel Magnolias.”
A philanthropist, she was behind the Imagination Library, which donated more than 200 million books to children around the world. In 2020, she helped fund early research for Moderna’s Covid 19 vaccine with a $1 million donation to Vanderbilt University.
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