- Longbow Speedster breaks cover
- British EV that promises roofless thrills
- Said to be spiritual successor to Lotus Elise and Jaguar E-Type
- Deliveries begin 2026
- Priced from £84,995
This new British EV is being billed as the spiritual successor to the Lotus Elise and Jaguar E-Type - and it’ll set you back a cool £84,995.
Longbow is a UK start-up headquartered in London and founded by a team of experts who’ve previously worked at Tesla, Lucid and BYD.
And the Longbow Speedster - seen here in ‘demonstrator’ form ahead of customer deliveries in 2026 - is the firm’s first proper production car.
It’s said to be a ‘Featherweight Electric Vehicle (FEV)’, with the Speedster weighing-in just 895kg - less than a Dacia Spring.
As you might have noticed, the Speedster doesn’t have a roof - which is one of the reasons it weighs so little - and there’s no windscreen either. Buyers will need to be braced for the Great British weather.
But the Speedster’s lack of heft also means that it shifts - capable of accelerating from 0-62mph in just 3.5 seconds.
Longbow is coy about what battery is being put into the Speedster, or what charging capabilities it might have, but you can expect an EV range of around 275 miles.
A company spokesperson enthuses: “Longbow fulfils the desire of enthusiasts for more driver-oriented, featherweight, electric sportscars that are also attainable and accessible. Its cars are designed explicitly for those who love driving and the places it takes them, offering a spiritual successor to British icons like the Lotus Elise and Jaguar E-Type. Through its first model, Speedster, Longbow offers a combination of beautiful design, lightweight construction, impeccable engineering, and meticulous hand finishing.”
The Speedster has also gone from sketch to road in just six months - where most cars take around 18 months to jump from the drawing board to the factory floor.
Daniel Davey, Co-Founder, CEO at Longbow, adds: “While Speedster defies convention, so too has our journey to get here - we’ve managed to deliver a Dynamic Demonstrator in just six months. No truer illustration of our Speed of Lightness approach.”
The roofless Speedster will be followed by a proper-cabined Roadster, which costs from £64,995.
What are the best electric sports cars you can lease?
The Longbow Speedster won’t be available to lease, as just 150 examples will be built, with the customer order bank already full.
But if you’re in the market for a lightweight electric sports car that you can lease, you might want to consider the likes of the MG Cyberster (below) or Abarth 500e Cabrio - both of which have a folding canvas roof.
We’re also due to get an electric version of the Porsche 718 Boxster at some point soon, but it’s not expected to arrive until 2027.
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