Austin could follow up its roadster EV with a city car, says CEO

Remember Austin Motor Company? It signalled its comeback a few months ago with a new all-electric roadster dubbed the ‘Arrow’, which marks a return to full-scale production after a 36-year hiatus.

Built to comply with Britain's quadricycle regulations, the Arrow may look like yer average yesteryear roadster - what with its wire-spoke alloys, tiny circular wing mirrors and tall grille - but it’s not. Beneath the pint-sized shell sits a 20bhp e-motor and 20kWh lithium-ion battery, which combine to provide a fizzy 7.8s run to its 60mph top speed and 100 miles of range.

Sounds promising - and the company’s boss, Nigel Gordon-Stewart, has plenty of optimism for what lies ahead.

“The Arrow is targeted at people who would go out and buy themselves a motorbike like a Harley-Davidson - the types with a bit of disposable income who want something different to drive on a Sunday. And it works: it’s based on the L7e regulations, so it’s a quadricycle akin to a Citroen Ami or the Renault Twizy.

“The difference here is that there’s no windscreen or roof and your ass is sitting just above the ground, so the experience is completely different.”

Interesting. It certainly seems like there's a gap in the market to expose if Austin plays its cards right. But say the Arrow is a success… what comes next?

“So as far as Austin’s concerned, we’re starting by restoring the heritage of the company. We’ll be following up with a second car fairly soon, which, I believe, will bring a lot of smiles to a lot of faces. That will be the car that really takes us to the next level.”

And though his response to a potential Super Seven remake was a shrug, he did provide a bit more clarity about just what type of car we could expect.

“The Super Seven was effectively the first real urban city car, alongside the Mini. It worked at the time because it was a pre-emptive response to the fuel crisis of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, and it made huge sense dimensionally. It was cool too. We’re looking at this as a potential opportunity.”

Beyond just a small urban car, Stewart says Austin’s versatility as a brand could be a key factor in exploring even more routes in the future.

“There’s very little that Austin hasn’t done. The Super Seven, the luxury Sheerline and the open-top Ulster are all proof of the pudding. We’ve had links to McLaren and Colin Chapman, and embraced some fun territories with cars like the Frogeye. So what we’ve got here is a brand with a fascinating past, and an enormous capacity to go where we want to go.”

What do we reckon folks: is Austin’s return a welcome one, and could its future have potential?

Images: Rod Kirkpatrick