Sir Richard Branson’s numerous companies build and sell everything from rockets to cell phones. And now the billionaire founder of Virgin Group has indicated his sights might be set on chasing Elon Musk on the ground as he already does in space.
Branson recently spoke to Bloomberg where he said his racing company has “teams of people working on electric cars,” adding, “So you never know—you may find Virgin competing with the Tesla in the car business as we do in the space business. We will see what happens.”
Virgin Racing Engineering is developing its new EV platform to compete in a new racing league called Formula E, in which the cars are powered by electric motors and batteries. It is set to be one of 10 competing teams in next year’s circuit.
Virgin’s automobile aspirations could range from mass production to boutique. There are several white label auto makers around the world that would handle the manufacturing for a Virgin EV. Branson’s diverse Virgin empire, now including more than 400 companies, clearly states he’s not afraid to dive head-first into a new venture with little fear of failure or embarrassment. That’s what makes him so interesting and the thought of a Virgin EV plausible.