British electric car startup Forseven aims to rival Bentley, Rolls-Royce and Jaguar

British electric car startup Forseven is starting to come out of the shadows with work already well underway on a range of luxury EVs and a launch expected towards the end of the decade.

The new company is being bankrolled by investment company CYVN Holdings, owned by the Abu Dhabi government, which also has an interest in Chinese EV brand Nio. Only last year, CYVN bought a controlling interest in Gordon Murray Technologies, part of the Gordon Murray Group that is launching the T.50 and T.33 supercars.

Gordon Murray Technologies has pioneered the iStream platform and production technology, which is expected to be used as part of the Forseven set-up.

iStream promises low weight and high strength platforms with the battery part of the overall structure of the vehicle and use of recycled carbon-fibre body panels. It’s claimed to reduce CO2 and cost during the production process and in the running of the vehicle, reducing body panel components by 50 per cent and overall weight by 20 per cent in a traditional family car. It was previewed by the Motiv quadricycle concept unveiled by Gordon Murray Design in 2021, which boasted of a battery twice the size of competitor vehicles while maintaining a low weight.

Former JLR executive director of vehicle programmes, Nick Collins, has joined Forseven as CEO after leaving the British luxury car maker in December. Already working at Forseven are former Jaguar Land Rover designer Alister Whelan, who also spent a short time working at Nio, heading up the Forseven design studio as vice president of design, and another ex-JLR man Graham Wilkins who is in charge of the engineering team as vice president of engineering.

Hinting at the use of iStream, Forseven’s website says, “Our vision is to reimagine the way we manufacture, own and connect with EVs.

“We will streamline the way premium, dynamically engaging, vehicles are made and offer them via an ecosystem that captures imaginations. By doing so, we will build for a better, circular future and lighten our impact on the planet.”

That also hints at a direct sales model rather than through a traditional dealer network, something other EV startups such as Nio, with its Nio houses, are also planning.

Forseven also says that it will follow seven guiding principles in its business: striving for lightness, championing customers, reigniting passion, collaboration for excellence, connecting worlds, born to pioneer, eyes fixed on the long term.

Little is known about the Forseven cars themselves yet with more information on the company expected later in 2024. However, Auto Express understands that they will be lightweight, super-connected vehicles with an unremitting focus on luxury, which is likely to put Forseven up against the reborn all-electric Jaguar models that are set to be launched in 2025 as well as electrified models from Rolls-Royce and Bentley.

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