Monaco-based Venturi, maker of niche electric sports vehicles and one of eight Formula E constructors in 2015-16, has suspended its car production activities.

That’s according to a report today at electric racing website, Electric Autosport, which goes on to say that the company is focusing exclusively now on powertrains and competitions, including Formula E, the land speed record-breaking VBB programme and bespoke projects such as its Antarctic exploration vehicle.

Venturi Automobiles suspends its electric sports car activities in order to fully focus on high performance powertrains and competitions.

“For our company it was a tough decision to narrow our main activities to three: running the Formula E team, to become a manufacturer in Formula E and to focus on high performance development including the world speed record programme we have each year in August,” said Nicolas Mauduit, CTO of Venturi Automobiles and team principal at Venturi Formula E.

With large manufacturers entering the market of electric vehicles, Mauduit explained that it is difficult to maintain the development of road cars: “It’s costly to develop the road cars, to train the engineers and to sell the vehicles. With larger players on the market with different kind of pricing it became more difficult for us to be profitable. Therefore we’ve taken the decision to focus on our expertise and that is in the field of high performance powertrains with high efficiency. And that makes sense with competition too. It has been a very difficult decision to take regarding the employees and their families, but it is important to secure the company’s long-term future.”

electricautosport.com