History
Yo-auto initially planned to begin producing the car during the second half of 2012, and had aims to sell 10,000 during the first year of production.[1][3] However, these plans were revised in 2012, with the estimated start of production was moved to early 2015, a plan that never came to fruition.[9] While it will be initially sold in Russia, Yo-auto planned to sell the vehicle in Europe subject to compliance with European Union regulations.[3] The cars was to be manufactured in a factory near St. Petersburg that would have an estimated annual capacity of 45,000 units. A second factory, to be opened later, was expected to double the annual production rate. However, these plans were also revised in 2013, with the estimated total annual production rate were targeted at 40,000 units.[10]
In late 2011, Vietnamese company TMT and Yo-auto announced plans to develop a line of 2-8 seat cars for the Vietnam market, developed from the Yo-mobil platform.[11]
At the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, yo-Auto presented a concept yo-mobil with sliding doors. Instead of mirrors, the concept utilized a pair of video cameras for rear view vision.[12]
In 2012 Mikhail Prokhorov presented Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the LDPR party with a gift of an advanced model of the Ё-Mobile, the ё-Crossback EV, for his 2012 election campaign.[13]
In August 2013 the official website of ё-ENGINEERING has been started, it is offline as of August 2017.
On 7 April 2014 ONEXIM announced the transfer of Yo-Mobile technologies to the government-owned research institute NAMI for a symbolical price of 1 euro. It also announced its intention to sell the Yo-Mobile Saint-Petersburg plants. ONEXIM explained the decision by the weakening of the Russian rouble and recent decline of the auto-market in Russia.[14]
