Poland's Izera Electric Car Project Launched via ElectroMobility Poland

Izera was the Polish government's plan to create the country's first domestic electric car brand. The project was run by ElectroMobility Poland (EMP), a company set up in 2016 and owned by state-controlled energy groups, and it was part of a wider push to build an electric vehicle industry in Poland.

The plan called for Izera cars to be developed under a Polish brand and produced at a purpose-built factory in Jaworzno, an industrial city in the southern region of Silesia. The name Izera comes from the Izera Mountains on the border with Czechia. Officials presented the project as a way to create jobs, support Polish suppliers and give the country a place in the changing car market.

The idea drew both enthusiasm and scepticism. Critics questioned whether a state-led company could develop a car from scratch, how it would be funded and when production could realistically begin. Over the following years the schedule slipped and EMP changed technology partners, including the later involvement of Taiwan's Foxtron. This early stage set the ambitions and the institutional framework that later developments built on.