After nearly five years of broken promises and a lawsuit or two, the long overdue Mullen GT has been unveiled in New York. While the automaker wisely avoided taking a stroll down memory lane, the introduction follows news that Mullen and Qiantu Motors have finally buried the hatchet. Way back in 2018, the two companies announced plans to homologate the K50 electric sports car and sell it in the United States starting in 2020.
That never happened and the two firms
decided to duke it out in court. While we could bore you with years of legal
proceedings, the companies entered into a settlement agreement this March. It
will see Mullen granted the “exclusive right to assemble, manufacture, and sell homologated vehicles based on the Qiantu K50 throughout North America and
South America for a period of five years.” In exchange, Qiantu will apparently
get millions, a royalty fee for each vehicle sold in the Americas, and a
promise that Mullen will “purchase a certain number of vehicle kits every
year.”
While that’s the backstory in a nutshell,
the GT has been billed as a “rebranded and refreshed” version of the K50.
However, the model shown in New York closely resembles its Chinese counterpart,
aside from what appears to be a modernized interior. The car is slated to be
built in Indiana and there will supposedly be two different variants. Details
are a little hazy, but the company suggested the entry-level GT will have a
dual-motor all-wheel drive system developing 375 hp and 580 Nm of torque. This will apparently enable the model to accelerate
from 0-96 km/h in 4.2 seconds, hit a top speed of 201
km/h, and have a NEDC (New European Driving Cycle) range of approximately 380 km.
The company also claims there will be a GT
RS, which can rocket from 0-96 km/h in 1.95 seconds and hit a top
speed of 322 km/h. Details are still hazy, but Mullen said the car
will have an “all-aluminum body frame” as well as lightweight carbon fiber body
panels that weigh a mere 46.7 kg. As for when the model will arrive,
the company’s website simply says “soon,” although we’ve heard that before.
