Former Tesla employees who left to create their own EV brand Longbow want to deliver a Roadster to Sam Altman if Elon Musk won't do it

Former Tesla employees who left to create their own EV brand Longbow, want to deliver a Roadster EV to Sam Altman if Elon Musk won’t do it.

That cheeky promise set the tone for our chat with Longbow’s founders, Daniel Davey, Mark Tapscott, and Jenny Keisu, who want to ‘change how the earth feels about sports cars.’

Their first series production Roadster starts at $110,000, with just 995 reservations, and a 150-unit Speedster to lead the line.

“If you can build one, you can build two,” Davey told us, adding that they drove their own car two weeks ago, and it was the proof point they needed.

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Hey Sam Altman, here’s a lightweight Roadster EV for you

After OpenAI CEO Sam Altman publicly canceled his Tesla Roadster preorder, the Longbow founders cheekily offered to ‘deliver him a Roadster before Elon does’ in an interview with Supercar Blondie.

They also promised not to charge him $250,000 for the EV or make him wait seven years for it.

“We are car people,” Tapscott told us.

“We want people to drive it because it is electric, not despite it,” and the recipe is lightweighting, theater, and timeless beauty.

Davey calls the mantra ‘lightweight, lightweight, lightweight’ rooted in his 2010 ‘Aha’ moment after driving the original Tesla Roadster.

“There are no two-seat electric sports cars between $75,000 and $250,000; it is a wide open green field,” he said.

Instead of cornering a niche market like the ‘best two-seater sports car EV’, they ‘want to build the best sports car on the planet, the most desirable and most beautiful, regardless of powertrain.’

As such, the trio works without a committee.

“We make decisions weighted for merit and believability,” Tapscott noted, but principle number one is simple: ‘Longbow is cool as f***.‘

Longbow is cool as f***

Longbow wants to create a raw, authentic drive without layers of infotainment systems that separate the Roadster EV from the driver.

“Augment the driver, do not replace the driver,” Davey said, teasing unexpected touches like a physical gear shifter to amp up the ‘theater’.

Keisu’s favorite feature is the EV’s lightweightedness, ‘the connection you get to the road,’ plus the price that ‘shouldn’t be’ so affordable for how it looks and performs.

And, of course, exclusivity is baked into the creation process.

“There are only 995 Roadster reservations,” Tapscott said, adding he handwrites every welcome letter for new ‘guild’ members.

“My pen only has so much ink,” he added cheekily.

The company is also building an indelible digital ledger of each car’s story:

“You get accolades for driving it. Think Strava for cars,” Davey explained.

If you drive to France, that’ll be baked into the EV itself, meaning that people will actually drive their EVs as opposed to just keeping them parked in a hermetically sealed garage.

When the founders were asked for advice to young engineers, Tapscott deadpanned:

“Don’t do it. Stay at home and watch Supercar Blondie videos while other people struggle doing it,” which is a great idea.

Then came the real playbook.

“Execution, execution, execution,” Keisu said.

“When someone says it is impossible, tell them to hold your beer.”

As Tapscott put it:

“Just do it in a way that is cool as f***. That is the guiding principle.”