Piech: Tobias Moers takes the reins at Swiss EV startup

Ex-Aston Martin and Mercedes-AMG boss Tobias Moers is the new co-CEO of Swiss EV sports car startup Piech.

Mr Moers most recently led Aston Martin as CEO, having served as CEO at Mercedes-AMG between 2013 and 2020. He’ll be the co-CEO and the sole chief technical officer (CTO) at Piech.

He’ll work alongside Manfred Fitzgerald, who has previously worked at Lamborghini and, more recently, Hyundai and Genesis. Mr Fitzgerald will be co-CEO and sole chairman of the board.

“With Manfred Fitzgerald and Tobias Moers, two established authorities from the sophisticated and rapidly evolving world of sports cars and automotive luxury brands join the Piëch team,” said Toni Piech, company co-founder.

“Both have a proven and enviable track record in this segment and possess extensive knowledge, an adept sense of how to communicate with exclusive customers and a distinct understanding of luxury brands.”

Piech is a young company, but it carries one of the most famous names in motoring. That’s not by accident – Toni Piech is Ferdinand Piech’s son, and Ferdinand Porsche’s grandson.

The brand’s first car is the Piech GT, which is a Porsche 911-sized electric coupe packing three motors for a claimed 445kW of power and a 100km/h sprint time of less than three seconds. Claimed kerb weight is 1800kg.

With batteries supplied by Chinese company Desten, the GT has a claimed range of 500km and can be fast charged from zero to 80 per cent in just eight minutes.

Piech isn’t planning to build 10 cars and disappear. It’s aiming to start production in 2024, and wants to build 1200 cars in its first full year. Europe, the USA, and China are its first target markets.

Despite its modern powertrain, the GT wears classically beautiful body panels. Mr Piech told Forbesit’s designed to “take advantage of the latest technology but preserve traditional sports car characteristics like a low seating position, good weight distribution, good weight management, a stiff chassis and a very direct kind of handling”.

The brand also says its architecture is scalable, opening the door for other vehicles to be developed with less upfront investment as it grows.

Along with electric power, it has its eyes on hydrogen fuel cells for future variants.