A New Electric Sports Car Brand Just Promised Nuneaton 200 Jobs. It Will Not Say How Many People It Employs Today.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
In short. Longbow, a British electric sports car startup founded in 2023, says it will create more than 200 skilled jobs building its cars at MIRA Technology Park near Nuneaton, West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker announced on 8 October 2026 [1]. The West Midlands Combined Authority is putting in GBP 3 million from its GBP 50 million Supplier Readiness and Transformation Fund, matched by the company [1]. The ledger logs an announced gain of 200, graded ANNOUNCED, sector manufacturing, region west-midlands, ai_cited: not-raised. Longbow has never disclosed its current headcount, so unlike some promises on this ledger, there is no baseline to measure 200 against.
A three-year-old company is promising to add 200 skilled roles to a region that has not seen a new car brand in a long time. Longbow was founded in 2023 by Daniel Davey and Mark Tapscott, who both previously worked at Tesla, Davey on commercialising the original Roadster and then scaling production of the Model 3 [2]. Jenny Keisu, formerly chief executive of the Swedish electric boat company X Shore, joined the leadership team at the end of 2025 [2]. The company has unveiled two models, a limited-run Speedster and a more widely produced Roadster, both lightweight, both aimed at reviving a kind of car Britain used to build in volume [2]. Speedster production is due to start at MIRA next year, with the Roadster following shortly after [1].
What is actually being funded
GBP 3 million from a government-backed regional fund, matched pound for pound by the company. The money comes from the West Midlands Supplier Readiness and Transformation Fund, a GBP 50 million pot administered by the West Midlands Combined Authority to back manufacturers and suppliers through the shift to electrification [1]. Mayor Richard Parker framed the choice of site in terms of regional continuity: "We've been building cars here in West Midlands for 130 years, so what better location for a new generation of carmakers like Longbow" [1]. He added that the wider fund "is about backing the ambitious, innovative manufacturers and suppliers who will keep the West Midlands in pole position as the global market continues its rapid shift towards electrification" [1]. Longbow co-founder and co-CEO Mark Tapscott put the pitch in narrower, company terms: "Britain used to be where the world came for light, quick, beautiful sports cars. Somewhere along the way, electric started to mean heavy," and on the jobs specifically, "the people we train will have skills the whole regional supply chain can use, and that's how you build something that lasts" [1]. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds also welcomed the investment, framing it as part of the government's wider push to expand automotive manufacturing in the region [1]. Longbow's own ambition, stated alongside the jobs announcement, is to eventually build more than 13,000 cars a year, mostly from UK-made parts [1] [3].
The gap this ledger cannot close yet
Unlike MARSS Systems' 100-job promise two days earlier, there is no public headcount to measure this one against. When MARSS Systems promised 100 new Bristol jobs on 9 October, its own head of recruitment had already put the company's size on the record at "120+ and counting," so readers could see the promise would very nearly double the company [4]. No comparable figure exists for Longbow anywhere searched for this piece, not on its own website, not in the WMCA release, not in trade coverage of the funding. That absence is not evidence of anything wrong; early-stage manufacturers routinely keep headcount quiet while hiring. But it does mean the one question this ledger would most like to answer about every gain, how big a jump is this for the company making it, cannot be answered here, and will have to wait for the review.
How the ledger logs it
An announced gain of 200, dated 8 October 2026, with no exact date for when the roles arrive beyond "production starts next year." This clears the bar for a full row rather than a diffuse target: one named employer, Longbow, committing to one named site, MIRA Technology Park, tied to a dated production start. That puts it alongside McLaren's 1,000 Woking jobs, Isembard's 200 in Southwark and MARSS's 100 in Bristol, logged in full to both events.csv and promises.csv, rather than treated as a vague regional ambition the way the DRIVE35 programme's 1,800 "secured" jobs are. AI is not cited anywhere in this story; Longbow's pitch is about reviving light, low-volume manufacturing, not about automation replacing or creating work.
What happens next in this ledger
Review dates are set for 8 October 2027 and 8 October 2028. The first lands close to when Longbow says Speedster production should actually begin, so it is a fair first test: are cars coming off a line at MIRA, and how many of the promised 200 roles exist to build them. If Longbow discloses a current headcount before then, that number gets added to this row the day it appears, the same way MARSS's was.
Sources
- West Midlands Combined Authority, "Mayor backs electric sports car maker to create hundreds of manufacturing jobs," 8 October 2026 (quoting Mayor Richard Parker, Longbow co-founder and co-CEO Mark Tapscott, and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds). https://www.wmca.org.uk/news/mayor-backs-electric-sports-car-maker-to-create-hundreds-of-manufacturing-jobs/
- The Cool Down, "Ex-Tesla engineers launch luxury electric sports car startup," 13 April 2025. https://www.thecooldown.com/green-business/longbow-ev-sports-car-uk-startup/
- TheBusinessDesk, "Mayor's GBP 3m backing brings hundreds of electric sports car jobs to Warwickshire," 8 October 2026. https://www.thebusinessdesk.com/westmidlands/news/2118023-mayors-3m-backing-brings-hundreds-of-electric-sports-car-jobs-to-warwickshire
- GOV.UK, "100 new UK jobs created as Kuwait buys British-made AI-enabled air defence systems," Department for Business and Trade, 9 October 2026. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/100-new-uk-jobs-created-as-kuwait-buys-british-made-ai-enabled-air-defence-systems