Longbow: a British sports car
Article by Tobias Selerit
A new electric sports car Longbow is emerging with a philosophy that feels almost defiant in today’s automotive industry: reduce everything that isn’t essential.
The performance of a sports car can be improved by adding a lot of power, but that adds weight which decreases pure driving engagement. Therefore, Longbow is obsessed with lightness.
It sounds like they want to continue from where Lotus left off. The Lotus Elise was discontinued in 2021. Elise was so light and so fun to drive.
Co-founder Mark Tapscott said: “Under a ton, over 300 horsepower per ton. That’s our benchmark.”
Co-founder Daniel Davey tempers expectations about its intent, saying it is “not designed as a track car.”
Weight loss is Longbow’s company culture. At the same time they are not using lightweight materials like carbon fibre, which means they can offer the car at a good price.
The CAD drawings were made by Avant Design. When the CAD drawings were ready, the prototype was built in just 7 months. The components were 3D-printed, including the front clamshell. Look how large that piece is!
The design is modern and classically beautiful at the same time.
“We drew inspiration from classic 1960s sports cars – not in a retro way, but in how those vehicles expressed their character so fluidly.” —Jonathan Gould and Chris Gould, Avant Design
Does Longbow look like a Lotus from some angle? The reason is that designer Jonathan Gould worked for Geely/Lotus in 2018-2022 (Geely acquired control in Lotus in 2017).
Longbow has not disclosed battery capacity, but based on the stated low weight target and intended driving range, the battery size has to be around 50 kWh. The battery and motor would account roughly for 300 kg.
At the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Longbow showed a prototype fitted with four 150 kW in-wheel motors from Donut Lab.
It’s clear, that 600 kW power would drain the battery at a much faster rate. The standard model still has a single motor mounted between the rear wheels and the power is somewhere between 300 hp and 300 kW.
The launch model, the Longbow Speedster, is limited to 150 examples. It will be the lightest, completely stripped out version that even doesn’t have the windscreen, not to speak of the roof. This is truly spartan.
In a world where increase in performance means ever-increasing weight and complexity, Longbow’s slogan is: “Speed of lightness.”
