The SVE Rocket History

2007: Mills Extreme Vehicles launched the first commercially available Exoskeletal kit car on to the British market. Powered by a 100BHP, 1.6 litre Ford Sigma engine, it received critical acclaim from the kit car press and sales of the MEV Rocket kit car started. 2008: Exo directors Paul and Liam purchase a modified Rocket chassis from MEV and install a 700cc, 3 cylinder turbo Smart Roadster engine. The lightweight 115BHP powerplant was a perfect fit, and this car, christened Zonta, was both featured on Central TV news and took pride of place on our stand at the BBC Top Gear live show, receiving particular attention from the three presenters, Clarkson, Hammond and May. 2009: Stuart Mills, impressed by the Zonta, approached a fledgeling RTR and asked them if they would like to purchase a licence for the worldwide manufacturing, sale and distribution of the Rocket. This represented a huge financial investment for the new company but a grant was secured from EMDA (East Midlands Development Association) and this allowed the purchase to take place. Production of the Rocket was started in earnest and in recognition of the car's designer, the MEV brand was used to market the RTR manufactured car. 2010: The first of our international distributors was established in Australia. Southam Automotive bought one of our chassis and then adapted it to comply with stringent Australian regulations. A specially designed nose cone was developed and torsional rigidity was so high that it became the first Exoskeletal vehicle allowed on the roads of Australia even though "track day only" Ariel Atoms had arrived several years previously. 2011: Having established distribution of the Rocket on several continents, slowly but surely, customers the world over were expanding the boundaries in terms of the specification of their Rockets. We received a call from a customer who had a plan to create an Atom beating Rocket with a 300BHP, supercharged Zetec engine. This Rocket became known as the M600 due to it's near 600BHP/tonne power to weight ratio. With a top speed in excess of 150mph and a 0-60mph time of under 3 seconds, this Rocket is a serious road and trackday weapon. 2012: Is was inevitable that with its go kart like handling, we would try competitive motorsport with the Rocket. The race car was initially fitted with a tuned 2.0 Zetec but after a meeting with Toyota specialists Rogue Motorsport and subsequent partnership, a 1zz Toyota engine was fitted from MK3 Toyota MR2. The car competed in several events during that year and not only came 4th overall in the Sports Specials series, it won its class. 2013: Our relationship with Rogue Motorsport moved on to a new level and we built four specially commissioned race chassis for competing in a number of race series and motorsport events. The Toyota 2zz engine was installed into these cars and the chassis have performed faultlessly despite the punishment that they receive during a season's racing, thus standing as testament to the quality of our manufacture. 2014: The '14 Rocket was physically quite similar to the 2007 original but continual development of the car lead to numerous small changes allowing the accommodation of a variety of powerplants, a lowered centre of gravity and increased passenger safety with the forward roll bar stays. This ultra clean example became affectionately known as 'Black Beauty' 2015: RTR rebrands as Exo Sports Cars Ltd, the company name now more accurately describing the products and services on offer. Exo team up with Steve Runnacles and Logan Black of Mercedes AMG F1 to design the Rocket II. The SVE Rocket II is lauched at the 2016 NEC Autosport Show and sales started shortly afterwards. Original Rocket renamed 'Rocket Classic' and is sold alongside Rocket II proving the popularity of the original design.