By Nick Carey
LONDON (Reuters) – RBW EV Cars, a UK startup that produces electric versions of classic sports cars, said on Friday it had started a supplier business to provide its electric systems and components to other automakers for similar high-end, limited-edition models.
CEO Peter Swain told Reuters that RBW was working on limited-edition models with three major automakers, but said he could not disclose names.
Started in 2017, RBW takes newly-made bodies of two classic MG car models – the MGB and MGB GT – and turns them into electric vehicles with a range of 155 miles (250 km) that start at around 100,000 pounds ($130,000), using an EV battery and powertrain designed by Continental unit Continental Engineering Services.
RBW has raised $18 million from investors so far.
The company recently started building EVs at a factory in Lichfield in central England and will launch production at a second factory in Danville, Virginia, in early 2025.
Swain said RBW aimed to make 300 of its own-brand EVs annually, and also produce up to 3,000 EV systems for other automakers via its Spirit EV unit.
Rather than spend millions of dollars designing their own system, automakers can buy RBW’s, which is already approved for use and in production, for between $40,000 and $50,000, Swain said.
He said RBW’s rear-wheel drive systems, which house the EV battery where the engine would have sat, can be adapted for any classic car body, from a Mustang to an Aston Martin or Corvette.
Swain said the major luxury automakers RBW is working with aim to sell model runs of a few hundred classic EVs and bring customers back to those brands.
“Major automakers can put those classic EVs in their top showrooms to remind customers why they love that brand,” Swain said.
($1 = 0.7679 pounds)
(Reporting by Nick Carey; Editing by Mark Potter)
