Latest news with #DanielDavey
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Ex-Tesla employees aim to launch an electric roadster before Musk can
An automotive startup based in Britain aims to release an exclusive fully electric open sports car before Tesla can deliver its long-promised roadster model. Pre-orders are already being taken by Longbow Motors, which was founded in 2023 by Daniel Davey and Mark Tapscott, former Tesla and Lucid employees who also gained development experience at China's BYD. Production is due to start by 2026. Tesla fans are still waiting for a roadster from the company which was promised by chief executive Elon Musk in 2020 and again last year. Musk went on record as saying that the new Roadster "has to come behind the things that have a more serious impact on the good of the world". Power from an electric motor is not the problem with electrically driven sports cars but rather the weight that hampers performance. Longbow Motors said it wants to counteract this with its concept of "Featherweight Electric Vehicles" (FEV). The lightweight sports car will be available as a roadster and an open Speedster. Both cars should be very quick to to hit 100 km/h although no official figures or detailed specification have been released. The models are based on an aluminium platform which delivers a weight of 995 kilos for the hardtop and 895kg for the open Speedster. "There is a need for a driver-centred, featherweight electric sports car that is affordable and accessible to those who love driving and the places it takes them. That's why we developed Longbow," said co-founder and chief executive Daniel Davey in a release. Davey had been in charge of the launch of the Tesla Model 3 in Europe and was Lucid's first official representative beyond North America. Tapscott worked on the Lotus Elise. The Longbow Speedster is being launched as a limited edition of 150 vehicles at a price of around €102,000. Customers can also reserve the Luminary 1st Edition and Autograph Edition models, which are limited to 10 and 25 units respectively.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Tesla and Lucid Execs Form EV Sports Car Brand
UK-based Longbow reveals plans for Speedster and Roadster electric sports cars, set to be handmade in limited numbers. The EVs are planned to feature aluminum chassis, 0-to-62 mph launches in under four seconds, and a WLTP range of 275 miles in the case of the Speedster. The Roadster is slated to be the more affordable of the two, with a starting price of $84,000. With the second-gen Tesla Roadster now permanently in development almost a decade after it was first shown, the field is still wide open for a convincing electric roadster that could offer some competition to the recently launched MG Cyberster. A team of former Tesla and Lucid executives has banded together to produce just such a sports car—or rather two sports cars, for a start—promising lightweight construction, compact batteries and motors, and a power-to-weight ratio that should excite modern enthusiasts. And the company's debut models are dubbed simply Speedster and Roadster. Settling on a variation of Lotus' "Simplify, then add lightness" motto, Longbow's ethos boils down to "The speed of lightness," or Celeritas Levitas in Latin. In fact, Longbow is quite explicit in just what kind of experience it wants to offer, naming the Jaguar E-Type and the Lotus Elise as its planned models' spiritual forerunners. "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," said Daniel Davey, co-founder, CEO at Longbow. Just what does the electric duo promise? An aluminum chassis designed for stiffness and minimal weight, 0 to 62 mph launches in under four seconds, plenty of range, and quite reasonable starting prices. The Roadster model promises a curb weight of just 995 kilograms or 2,194 pounds, along with 3.6-second sprints from a standstill to 62 mph, while wearing a price tag of about $84,000. The Speedster model, on the other hand, promises an even lighter curb weight of just 895 kilograms (1,973 pounds), a WLTP range of 275 miles, and 3.5-second launches from 0 to 62 mph. But the starting price will be a little heavier, requiring about $110,000. "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," Davey adds. However, one thing Longbow isn't promising is a vast production run. The company says that just 150 units of the Speedster model are planned to be produced, but does not detail the planned run of the Roadster. On one hand that's a small production volume, but on the other, it likely mirrors the real-world demand for a model such as this one. After all, Tesla and others have been quite content thus far to not cater to buyers in these segments. Longbow plans to build the models by hand in the UK and has offered no specific about export markets, including the US—usually a tall order for small-volume automakers even without the EV drivetrains. Longbow is now effectively in a race with big German automakers, as well as Lotus, to cater to these overlooked segments, all while steering clear of the more casual MG Cyberster buyers. And getting there first will still require plenty of effort, given the specs that the company has targeted. Is there demand for EV drivetrains in these body styles, or are enthusiasts still primarily looking for internal combustion powerplants in models such as these? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
