Westfield to launch first fully electric kit car
Newly acquired Chesil Speedster will form the basis of innovative offering to the home build market
While you’ve been sitting at home waiting for the pub to open, Westfield Sportscars has been quietly innovating like its corporate life depended on it (which, of course, in a very real way it does). Under Julian Turner’s leadership, the firm has already branched out into the business of building fully autonomous electric pods (it supplied the ones you see snaking their way to Terminal 5 from the business parking at Heathrow). Now it has another bright idea: designing, building and certifying an electric car for the DIY customer.
To facilitate this, it has acquired the Chesil Motor Company - an established player in the kit car market and the manufacturer of the Chesil Speedster, a hat-tipping replica of the iconic Porsche 356. According to Westfield, its new purchase has sold over 500 units - pretty good going when you consider that it’s only been going since 1991. Clearly its business model made sense to Turner, but an additional product stream is apparently the least of his ambitions.
The long-term vision is to ‘future-proof’ the Chesil Speedster, by a) incorporating Westfield’s expertise in fibreglass construction and b) making it fully electric (something else its parent company has developed a talent for). This is no pie-in-the-sky aspiration either - the Chesil E Speedster, as it’s inevitably known, will be unveiled at Silverstone Classic for all to see. Press drives, incredibly, are pencilled in for early September.
Granted, there’s no word yet on spec or performance or price - or how exactly a kit-build electric car will work alongside a factory-built alternative - but Westfield already has plenty to show for what it describes as the “culmination of many months of work between the two businesses.” It will continue to build and supply the conventionally-powered Speedster - as it will its own expansive line-up of sports cars - but clearly believes that it has landed on a complementary and impressively novel plan for the next few years.
“We are really excited to have the Speedster under the Westfield Brand," remarked Turner. "We see the continued global growth of the Westfield collection providing a bespoke car to meet the individual needs of our customers. Westfield can now offer you a POD for your mobility needs in the week and car for fun for the weekend – all tailored around your bespoke requirements.”
I'd be happy to have an electric commuting car but for sunny weekends I'd prefer petrol.
I hope they're successful and I'll watch with interest.
Also Westfield get to say they were there first I guess. Does any other Kit Car Maker offer a proper EV version?
That's a lot of committment.
I did muse for a while about a cheap electric kit car. Get a mid engine kit intended for a fwd donor and stuff the worky bits from a written off Leaf into it. Leaf motors can take a lot more power with a custom controller. I think it'd be fun.
I’ve been in the market for an electric sports car since I sold my last 987 and nobody has offered anything “turnkey”. Something pretty with decent performance shouldn’t be that hard to do. I’ve been surprised that BMW hasn’t plonked a swoopy body on the i3 underpinnings...
Well done Westfield. Will keep a close eye on this one.
They've also historically had a firm foothold in the United States, and I could see this being very popular in California, if they can work out a way to set up sensible export arrangements.
Let's just hope it doesn't mean that Chesil goes the same way as the GTM Libra...
I’ve been in the market for an electric sports car since I sold my last 987 and nobody has offered anything “turnkey”. Something pretty with decent performance shouldn’t be that hard to do. I’ve been surprised that BMW hasn’t plonked a swoopy body on the i3 underpinnings...
Well done Westfield. Will keep a close eye on this one.
I will be very interested in the reviews of this.
£25k premium over one with an engine that is like the one the original had? Would most people after a kit car that paid "homage" in this way not prefer a drivetrain like the original?
If the future is electric, surely cars must be innovative and not just electric powered parodies of "old" or existing cars?
Having designed and built the heathrow pods (which if you've not used them are truly excellent!), I cannot help thinking that a company like Westfield should be thinking well and truly outside the box and developing a kit style vehicle that pushes the boundaries of design and tech, not just rehashing a car from 40 years ago and putting some batteries in it.
The benefit of kit cars for conversion is that the GRP shell and lightweight bespoke chassis make them very efficient to adapt and convert, with fewer batteries required than modern cars.
I think the £25k premium above was a guess. Certainly it is cheaper than that with parts readily available;
https://www.evwest.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=40
I'd be happy to have an electric commuting car but for sunny weekends I'd prefer petrol.
I hope they're successful and I'll watch with interest.
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