An electric vehicle startup backed by the Mexican government has unveiled its first prototype in a ceremony featuring President Claudia Sheinbaum, who praised the project as an affordable mobility option and a showcase for homegrown engineering. A smiling Sheinbaum drove the six-seat passenger prototype, called the Olinia Uno, onto a stage inside a Mexican Air Force hangar north of Mexico City on Sunday. The president has promoted Olinia as a flagship project combining domestic manufacturing and the green transition with a push to highlight Mexico’s industrial ambitions. “For a long time, people talked about how Mexico was a place only destined to produce what other people imagined,” Sheinbaum told a crowd that included dozens of designers and engineers involved in the project. “Olinia is the proof that Mexico can go far beyond that.” Sheinbaum, a former climate scientist, has touted Olinia as a zero-emissions option for urban mobility that could help Mexico develop domestic supply chains and launch a national brand. The vehicle is designed for short city trips rather than highway use, which places …