New Zenos E10 gets ‘nose-to-tail’ revisions, and a £116k starting price
British sports car maker Zenos is back with its new 300bhp E10 sports car, and hardcore 380bhp E10 rZ
British sports car maker Zenos is back in business with its mad two-seat, open-top E10 sports car. But although the bodywork looks familiar, it’s all change underneath, with new engines, control systems and other hardware. There’s been a raft of performance upgrades too, but the price has risen almost five-fold, to an eye-watering £115,900.
Zenos says the new E10 is “the perfect antidote to today’s bloated and numb new cars”. The company apparently remains “committed to the UK as a base”, and will build its cars at its headquarters in Wymondham, Norfolk.
As revealed last year, the revived brand and associated E10 sports car is now under the ownership of AC Cars. The business, which originally launched in 2012, went into administration five years later, having sold just over 100 cars. Two models were offered, priced from £24,995.
The new car, however, switches out the 200bhp Ford Ecoboost engine for a new 2.3-litre four-cylinder turbo with approximately 300bhp and 425Nm of torque. This base r2 variant will do 0-62mph in 3.8 seconds and hit 150mph flat-out. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox.
Above this sits the hardcore rZ, which uses a smaller-capacity 2.0-litre turbo, boosted to 380bhp and 510Nm. This version slashes the 0-62mph sprint to 3.2 seconds; prices start from £129,900.
To cope with the increased power, the E10's body structure has been reworked. The coilover dampers mount directly to the extruded aluminium subframe, while both powertrains use new induction and chargecooler packages. There’s also a revised gear linkage for what Zenos claims are “faster and more precise gearchanges”.
On that aluminium chassis sits a composite tub made from recycled carbon fibre. However, it now features new carbon-fibre bodywork manufactured by AC Cars. This extensive use of lightweight materials helps the car achieve a target kerbweight of just 790kg, giving it an impressive power-to-weight ratio. The interior is also getting a full redesign, with new seats, switchgear, and a central display unit.
Zenos says the new E10 “can be reserved now” – either as a road car or a track model, though the former is only available in the UK for the time being. The company is promising first deliveries in the spring of 2027.
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