Meet Longbow - EV mission statement: lightness
New British firm says it wants to build the world's first Featherweight Electric Vehicle - cross your fingers tight
They said they would do it, and, fair play, they have. This is the Longbow Speedster and Roadster – two lightweight electric sports cars from the first ever all-electric British sports car manufacturer. When they were first announced, you could’ve been forgiven for thinking ‘Yeah, like that’ll happen’ but these guys mean business. They’re at the ‘orders open’ stage today. And while they look like two more unaffordable exotics, they’re not. Well, not completely unaffordable, at least. Prices for the Roadster start at £64,995, which is smack bang in MG Cyberster territory, and likely cheaper than the forthcoming Porsche Boxster and Polestar 6. The Speedster starts at £84,995.
Longbow is also announcing the birth of the FEV category, which has nothing to do with some frumpy SUV PHEV, by the way. It stands for Featherweight Electric Vehicle, and if Longbow meets its aims that’ll be the reality. Indeed, the company’s motto is ‘Celeritas Levitas’ or ‘the speed of lightness’ and it’s dedicated itself to filling a gap in a market that’s right up PH’s street: the sub-tonne electric sports car. We can get behind that, can’t we?
The roofless Speedster, we’re told, weighs 895kg. The Roadster’s weather-tight roof and windscreen add 100kg to that tally, but it’s still, just, under the magic tonne. And that means only a single motor, producing an expected 322hp and driving the rear wheels, is enough to get the Speedster from 0-62mph in 3.5 seconds, and the Roadster 3.6 seconds. The WLTP range is 275 miles.
Obviously, for £64,995, this is not some carbon-tubbed McLaren equivalent. The chassis is aluminium, which is still stiff and light, and it’s hand built in the UK. The motor and battery, on the other hand, are not necessarily built here. That’s because Longbow is going about this the old-school way. Small, British sports car manufacturers have tended to buy in expensive components, like engines, from known suppliers, and that’s the ethos here.
Because they’re not trying to offer insane, hypercar performance, but instead usable performance for the enthusiast, there’s no need to invest heavily in bespoke battery chemistry designed to extract every last volt possible. That means an off-the-shelf battery and motor can be used. And they’ve engineered flexibility in, too, so if one supplier runs into trouble, or they want to change supplier to one that offers more power or range, that’s easily possible. Think the Caterham Seven, when it swapped Rover K-Series for Ford Duratec power.
So, who are the people behind Longbow? That’s interesting, too. They’re not dreamers, they’re doers. The founders are Daniel Davey, Mark Tapscott, and Jenny Keisu. Davey’s and Tapscott’s CVs include stints at Tesla, Lucid, Polestar, and Chinese manufacturers, including Lucid Motors and BYD. Keisu has commercial and investment experience, and is a pioneer in the electric marine industry. The engineering team they’ve assembled boasts experience working with Formula E, Lotus, Aston Martin, Ariel, as well as Tesla. Speaking of Tesla, the Roadster name is a little swipe at Musk’s unfulfilled promise to build the Tesla Roadster MkII. Davey has stated that Longbow will welcome anyone who’s been waiting since 2020 for one of those. Davey also said this about the new models:
“Amidst the e-mobility revolution, we have lost something important. Many modern ‘sportscars’ tip the scales at 1,500kg and BEVs can reach almost double that. There is a need for a more driver-oriented, featherweight, electric sportscar – one that is attainable and accessible, for those who love driving and the places it takes them. That is why we have created Longbow. Our first two cars, Speedster and Roadster embody everything a modern driver’s car should be: agile, balanced, electric, and exhilarating. We are reviving an icon, the lightweight British sportscar.” Amen to that.
Deliveries of the Speedster will start first in 2026. Only 150 will be made, with 10 Luminary 1st Editions and 25 Autograph Editions. After that, the Roadster, which is the mainstay of the marque, will go into production. It’s also available to order now, with 50 Luminary 1st Editions and 100 Autograph Editions up for grabs if you’re quick.
It's be a resounding shot across the bows of Porsche if they cannot get the weight of the Boxster/Cayman to within ~250 kg (acknowledging the likely addition of certain creature comforts and soundproofing for their target market) of these two, assuming similar performance and range characteristics.
I had to do some digging to find the company website: https://longbowmotors.com/
Simon.
I’m an ICE loving dinosaur so won’t be buying one, but really hope this is a success, and paves the way for others to create cars in a similar vein (looking at you, Project V.)
I wonder if that price is realistic for a full production run product? The Lotus Emira and Alpine A110 are similar prices and these are similar chassis tech with off the shelf drivetrains. I'm sure the motors and battery are also off the shelf but would they be more expensive? Lets see.
Only Caterham has promised near the 1-ton threshold. The 718's probably 2 tons, knowing Porsche. Alpine and Lotus somewhere in the middle.
My S1 Elise isn't going anywhere. But it would be good to have a little less dread about the future.
And at £65k it's a bit of a bargain, to be honest.
That said, I'm also of the petrol persuasion and prefer my sports cars to have a decent soundtrack, but fair play, I wish them well.
So the roadster is the hard top, unlike the naming convention of pretty much every other car manufacturer?
The roofless is £85k on their website, but they want £125k to reserve the first roofless ones, which the brochure says cost £120k.
And under "reserve now" the prices are as in the article, so the coupe is about 25% cheaper? I actually quite fancy one of those.
No details on factory site or production schedule, with availability next year you'd think most of this should be in place already.
Good work. With this, the Wells Vertige and the Caterham Project V there are some very exciting low-volume cars coming from Britain.
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