Korea's First Handmade Sports Car Reborn as Electric Vehicle... Will It Succeed?

Eoullim Motors, Maker of Spira, Makes a 'Return' After 10 Years
Electric Sports Car Launch Scheduled for Early Next Year
Many 'Challenges' Remain

Lamborghini, Ferrari, McLaren, Lotus. These are representative handcrafted sports car brands that have entered the Korean market. There is a Korean small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) that has announced a showdown with these companies. That company is Eoullim Motors. Dreaming of becoming Korea's Carrozzeria (a small-scale automobile company that handles design, engineering, and production), it is resuming business after 10 years. It plans to release an electric sports car early next year. It is walking a difficult path, one that even large corporations have failed at in the past. There are many challenges to overcome, such as attracting investment and securing parts supply.

Eoullim Motors announced that it will officially resume business, including automobile development, starting from the 15th of this month. The company will unveil Spira2 early next year, based on the Spira it previously developed. Spira2 will be equipped with dual motors and is a high-performance electric sports car with a maximum output of 580 horsepower. Two years later, it plans to produce a hypercar called Spira Tempesta. According to the company, it will adopt a 10-cylinder V-type naturally aspirated engine and use top-performance parts such as a ZF transmission.

So far, Eoullim Motors has experienced many ups and downs. Kim Han-cheol, who worked as a designer at Asia Motors and SsangYong Motor, founded the company in 1994 under the name Protomotors with CEO Choi Ji-seon, a former Hyundai Motor researcher. In 2001, they embarked on a handcrafted sports car project and completed a prototype (PS-II), releasing the finished product in 2002. However, Protomotors, which lacked funds, was merged and acquired by Eoullim Motors, founded by Park Dong-hyuk, a first-generation IT security industry figure and current CEO of Eoullim Motors.

Overcoming difficulties as an SME, including passing domestic crash tests, they launched Spira in March 2010. The price ranged from 79 million to 100 million KRW depending on the trim. Despite the high price, about 40 units were sold over two years. However, in December 2012, the parent company Eoullim Networks was delisted due to allegations of accounting fraud, embezzlement, and breach of trust against CEO Park. Subsequently, the CEO and key executives resigned. Nevertheless, vehicle development continued. In 2013, they released Vangari, a 4-door sedan based on Spira. Later, they revealed the design of Spira2, an electric sports car, but actual development did not proceed. Although CEO Park won the prolonged legal battle related to embezzlement and breach of trust, the damage was significant. Park even published an internet newspaper (SpiraTV) to ‘save the company.’ Finally, they have come close to producing cars again.

There are still many ‘mountains’ to overcome for vehicle development. The automobile manufacturing industry is difficult to succeed in, even for large conglomerate owners. A representative example is the supercar brand ‘De Macross,’ founded by Heo Ja-hong, the grandson of GS Group founder Heo Man-jung and second son of Heo Dong-soo, honorary chairman of GS Caltex. In 2011, they unveiled the ‘De Macross Epique GT1’ and even exhibited it at the Dubai Motor Show, raising expectations. However, the vehicle price was about 1.6 billion KRW, and production took six months. The brand was unfamiliar, and the high price led to consumer rejection. The only remaining vehicle was severely damaged in an accident, and Heo experienced the ‘misfortune’ of winding up the business.

Starting from the bottom means solving problems that startups face. American electric vehicle startups Rivian and Lucid, once spotlighted as post-Tesla companies, have yet to produce meaningful results. According to data from the Korea Automotive Technology Institute, both companies’ cash reserves are decreasing. Delays in mass production make it difficult to cover operating costs. Poor performance has also hindered additional investment. Eoullim Motors must secure additional investment through rapid production to sustain continuous vehicle development.

Eoullim Motors plans to prioritize funding through other businesses. For example, it is producing golf shafts using carbon raw materials used in Spira. A company official stated, “All revenue from the golf shaft business will be used for vehicle development,” but added, “It is difficult to rely on this alone, so we are planning to seek investment in the future.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.