Yo-Avto, the joint venture owned by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov’s Onexim Group and by Yarovit Motors, has broken ground on a factory for its hybrid vehicles in St. Petersburg, Russia. The facility is being built in the Maryino Industrial Park area of St. Petersburg and, once construction is complete, the Yo-Avto site will begin cranking out up to 45,000 hybrid ë-mobiles a year. According to Ward’s Auto (sub. req.) the facility will produce the hybrid vehicles as “assembly kits,” which we assume means that at least some of them will be sold as kit cars.
The trio of ë-mobiles, including the Yo CrossCoupe, Yo Microvan and Yo Furgon feature similar specs, including: a max speed of 75 miles per hour, a cruising range of 249 miles, the ability to burn gasoline and natural gas and an expected fuel economy rating of approximately 67 miles per gallon.
Base price for the yo-mobiles is targeted at $13,000 and production is set to get underway in late 2012. Yo-Avto claims to have booked a whopping 122,800 pre-orders for its yo-mobiles since accepting advanced online orders back in mid-May.
[Source: Ward’s Auto – sub. req.]
