A British carmaker has unveiled plans to start production of its hand-built electric sports car in Warwickshire.
Longbow is to start production of its limited-edition Speedster at Mira Tech Park in Nuneaton next year.
West Midlands mayor Richard Parker, who backed Longbow with £3m from a government fund, said the project will be followed by the firm’s Roadster model, creating more than 200 skilled jobs.
Daniel Davey, Longbow’s co-chief executive officer, said the region was the best place to build the cars. “It’s not just the supply chain; you’ve got the talent here and the know-how,” he said.
Davey said: “You cannot build this car anywhere else in the world. And if you did, you would be importing UK components to it.
“So you can get heavy components elsewhere, and you can get high-volume components elsewhere; what we’re looking for is low-volume, high-quality, low-cost, low-weight.”
The Speedster has a waiting list of prospective buyers from across the world, waiting to spend around £85,000 on the sports car.
At the test track at Mira, the all-British creation silently demonstrated how a lightweight sports car can go from an idea to a vehicle in less than two years, helped by regional expertise.
Longbow said the UK was good at building lightweight sports cars.
“Our designers are just up the road in Leamington Spa, engineers from across the West Midlands and further afield,” Davey added.
