Mexico debuts Olinia Uno, a state-backed EV aiming for an $8,500 price tag

Mexico’s government has shown off the Olinia Uno, a domestically designed electric car that President Claudia Sheinbaum drove onstage at an Air Force hangar near Mexico City. The six-seater is built for city driving, with a 77-mile range, a 31 mph top speed, and the ability to charge from a standard household outlet. It’s slated to go on sale next summer for roughly 150,000 pesos (about $8,500), and includes space for a wheelchair passenger. Officials say the prototype is currently 50% domestically sourced, with a target of 75% by 2030, alongside plans for 2,000 charging stations across three states.

The project anchors Sheinbaum’s six-year Plan México, an industrial strategy meant to push the country into the world’s ten largest economies and grow its share of global auto supply chains by 15%. Sheinbaum framed the car less as a product than as a ‘seed’ for a homegrown innovation ecosystem and manufacturing base.

The launch lands against a sharp regional divide on EV policy. Chinese automakers have leapt ahead on range and charging speed and are already selling in Mexico, while the U.S. has gone the other direction—scrapping federal EV subsidies and walling off cheaper Chinese models with 100% tariffs. With proposed legislation like the Protecting America from Chinese Cars Act targeting connected vehicles from China and other adversarial states, and Ford’s CEO urging that such cars be kept out via North American trade talks, it’s an open question whether Mexico’s cheap EV will draw similar U.S. resistance.