Could EV startup Longbow be the company that brings the British auto industry back to life?

The company impressed the autorati by bringing its first model, the Speedster, from a design sketch to a functioning demonstrator in a mere six months, about a third of the time automakers typically take for such a development phase. It hopes to begin customer deliveries in 2026.

The company’s founders—Daniel Davey, Jenny Keisu and Mark Tapscott—are taking an agile, vertically-integrated approach, which they dub the “Speed of Lightness.” They’ve demonstrated the development speed, and the lightness was also on display at the demo reveal event in London—the Speedster’s kerb weight of 895 kg is far lighter than most small EVs, and lighter than many a petrol-powered conveyance.

Longbow has even blessed us with yet another auto industry acronym—it designates the Speedster as a Featherweight Electric Vehicle (FEV).

As WhichEV reports, the Speedster features a custom-designed bonded aluminum chassis engineered for minimum weight and maximum rigidity. Longbow also employs a module-to-chassis battery technology that eliminates the need for battery pack casings, further reducing weight.

Longbow is proudly following in the footsteps of a certain other EV startup that was founded in 2003. Longbow calls the open-topped Speedster a “definitive driver’s car,” and “a spiritual successor to British icons like the Lotus Elise and Jaguar E-Type.” The company has even teased a second, closed-top model, to be called the Roadster.

Longbow says the Speedster will do 0-62 mph in 3.5 seconds (slightly quicker than that other company’s original Roadster, and almost as quick as its Model 3 Performance), and will achieve a range of 275 miles (on the WLTP testing cycle). All the company’s models will be “designed, engineered, and hand-built in the UK.”

The Speedster limited-edition launch model starts at £84,995, and Longbow says the first-year production run is already sold out. The company hopes to offer the Roadster variant at £64,995.

“Speedster seems to have struck a chord with enthusiasts,” said co-founder and CEO Daniel Davey at the London unveiling. “It’s a timeless blueprint with a twist, which was exactly what the market was missing. We’ve managed to deliver a Dynamic Demonstrator in just six months. No truer illustration of our Speed of Lightness approach.”

Source: WhichEV