Brace Yourselves: A New G-Wiz Is Coming Our Way
What’s the furthest thing from a petrolhead’s ideal ride that you can think of? The obvious option of the Toyota Prius would be high up the list, but I’d argue the electric G-Wiz - based on the Indian-built Reva Revai - deserves this dubious crown. It has a pathetic 17bhp electric motor, a pitiful range of about 50 miles and a crumple zone which consists mostly of your own face (as a ‘quadricycle’, it doesn’t need to comply with proper car safety regulations).
It’s a car we’d almost forgotten about, given the rise of genuinely good EVs from mainstream manufacturers like the BMW i3 - and cars from less mainstream companies like the Tesla Model S - but there’s now a new one on the way. Joy.
In an interview with Live Mint, Pawan Goenka MD of Mahindra - Reva’s owners since 2010 - confirmed that the company is planning to introduce a new version of its e2o EV (above) in the UK in 2016. As with the G-Wiz, it’ll be another sub-£10,000 vehicle.
It’ll be badged as a Mahindra, which should hopefully mean we’ve seen the end of the offensively chirpy ‘G-Wiz’ branding. It’ll also probably be as basic as the old G-Wiz. The e2o’s range and top speed are only slightly better than the old car’s (75 miles and 56mph), and as Goenka puts it: "we are not here to plug a technology gap, but a price gap."
However, the silver lining is that the e2o - and the UK variant it’s set to spawn - is classed as a proper car, so it’ll be a damn sight safer this time around.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
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