For the U.K. automotive industry, the annual Goodwood Festival of Speed is a not-to-miss annual event, culminating in its world-famous hillclimb event.
Last year, we saw Nissan’s Leaf Nismo RC all-electric race car tackle the iconic 1.16-mile course, but this year we’ll see Nissan’s luxury arm debut a working version of its Emerge-E plug-in sports car for the first time.
Unveiled at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, the Emerge-E is a range-extended electric car powered primarily by twin electric motors producing 300 kilowatts of power.
For extra power, or when the battery pack is depleted, a three-cylinder engine provides range-extending power, although we think it’s unlikely the sportscar will need to make use of it on the tiny course.
2012 Infiniti Emerg-E concept
If the working prototype due to take part in the Goodwood Festival of Speed meets the initial specifications announced back in March, it should reach 60 mph in under 4 seconds, going on to a reasonably quick 130 mph 26 seconds later.
On Goodwood’s small hill-climb course however, we doubt the super-sexy plug-in car will reach those kind of speeds, especially given the 9 corners it will have to negotiate.
What about the duty of driving? That will fall on the shoulders of Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber, who is no stranger to the West Sussex track.
As our sister site MotorAuthority reports, Infiniti has some other, less green fun in store for the June 28-July 1 event, including the Infiniti FX Vettel Edition, driven by double F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel.
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