I recently shared an article on the Bridge Classic Cars website about the Longbow Speedster. I found the car really exciting and, as it seemed to generate a lot of attention, I have been speaking more with Mark Tapscott, co-founder of Longbow.
Mark has been responsible for some of the biggest global automotive launches, including launching BYD in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and launching Lucid in Europe and Saudi Arabia.
Now, Mark is part of the company that took a sketch of a car to a working prototype in just six months.
This is how our conversation went:
Tell me about Longbow
Longbow is a British electric sports car company with a very simple belief at its core: the future of driving should feel alive. For the last decade, the industry has been heading towards heavier, more complex electric cars, and we felt the world needed an alternative.
Our focus is on creating Featherweight Electric Vehicles, cars that are genuinely light, responsive and a joy to drive. Everything we do starts with that principle. We are not trying to out-power anyone. We are trying to bring emotion, connection and craft back into the experience.
Longbow is built in Britain, inspired by the spirit of our classic sports cars, but driven by a vision for a cleaner and more human future.
A lot of EVs are heavy, but yours are really light. How did you keep the weight so low without losing performance or range?
Weight is the enemy of everything. It hurts efficiency, agility, braking, fun, and even sustainability. So, we treated weight as a design input from day one, not an afterthought. That meant building our chassis from bonded aluminium extrusions, looking at creating an incredibly efficient battery pack, and working from a clean sheet rather than adapting an SUV platform or carrying over components that were never meant for a sports car.
Efficiency comes from removing mass, not adding more kilowatt hours, so our cars deliver a strong range because they do not waste energy moving unnecessary weight. The truth is that when you start with lightness, performance becomes a natural consequence. It is not forced. It is earned.
You’re working with a team that has experience from Tesla, Lotus, McLaren, Aston Martin, etc. How does that mix help shape Longbow?
It is rare to find a team that has lived through the birth of modern electric cars at Tesla, the art of lightweighting at Lotus, the precision of McLaren, and the craft and soul of Aston Martin. What makes this team special is not the badges on their CVs but the philosophies they bring.
We share a belief in purity of engineering and clarity of purpose. No egos, no noise, just the pursuit of making a car that feels right. When you combine deep EV knowledge with decades of sports car intuition, you get something new: an electric car that behaves like a classic driver’s car, but with all the benefits of clean technology.
Electric cars often get labelled as less engaging to drive. How have you made sure yours still give that full driving experience?
We started by asking what makes a great drivers car, not what makes a typical EV. Engagement comes from grip levels you can explore, a chassis that talks to you, and controls that feel intuitive and mechanical. So we engineered our cars to be light, balanced and predictable, with rear wheel drive, analogue cues and genuine feedback.
We even introduced elements like our own mechanical style shift lever, not because it is necessary, but because it adds texture and involvement. The joy is in the interaction. Our aim was never to make a hypercar-fast EV. It was to make a proper sports car that happens to be electric.
I was surprised to see how affordable Longbow cars are. Was that part of the plan from the start?
Absolutely. There is quite a selection of multi-million dollar hypercars already!
A sports car should be something that as many driving enthusiasts as possible can own and drive, not a museum piece. We wanted to prove that lightness, craft and performance do not have to come with an impossible price tag. By keeping the cars simple, focused and efficient to manufacture, we can offer something beautiful and exciting without straying into fantasy pricing.
Affordability also matters for impact. If you really want to change how people think about electric driving, the car cannot exist only for the ultra elite.
You’ve started with the Speedster and Roadster. What’s next?
Those two cars tell the world who we are: pure, lightweight, emotional. Beyond them, everything will be built on the same principles. Always light, always joyful, always simple.
Our goal is to keep proving that electric cars can be engaging and efficient, and that lightness is the most powerful tool we have to get there. More will come when the time is right, and always in our style.
I can see nods to classic British sports cars in your designs. How much did the past influence what you are doing today?
Deeply. Britain has a heritage of building sports cars that were light, simple and full of character. Cars that were not perfect but were alive. We wanted to honour that spirit without recreating the past. The proportions, the stance, the honesty of the design all echo that era, but the technology and philosophy are very much forward looking.
In many ways, we are trying to restore something we lost in the shift to heavier cars: the magic that comes from restraint.
How can people find out more about what you are doing?
The best place is our website at longbowmotors.com, where you can learn more about the Speedster, the Roadster and the philosophy behind the Speed of Lightness.
You can also follow Longbow on Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube for updates, behind the scenes content and invitations to exclusive events. And for those who want to go deeper, joining the Longbow Guild is the best way to get early access, previews and community events. We’ve actually gone against the grain and limited the number of reservation holders or ‘Guild Members’ in the club. This allows us to create intimate and meaningful events for those that we are honoured to have join us in such a meaningful way.
You’ll never become ‘just a number’ or ‘just an owner’ – you’re in ‘The Guild’.
Enjoyed Talking Classics With Mark Tapscott?
Take a look at the entire Talking Classics series for more interviews with other influential people.
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