Superformance Is Building An All-Electric Cobra For 2021

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

Boutique carmaker Superformance has teased plans to launch an all-electric version of its Mark III Shelby Cobra roadster as early as next year. At least, that’s what seems to be happening in one of the company’s recently released YouTube videos.

electric Mark III Shelby Cobra
“Look, ma! No exhaust!” (Image courtesy Superformance)

You’d be forgiven for thinking this story’s a re-run. That’s because we’ve already covered an electric continuation Shelby Cobra at least once earlier this summer. Twice, even, if you count Ford’s 1400HP electric Cobra Jet dragster! The difference being that that car is built by a British company, AC, which built the original chassis and bodies for the AC Ace back in the 1960s. The Ace was a car in and of itself, and only became the snarling, V8-powered, fat-fendered Cobra after Carroll Shelby and his crew stuffed their engine bays with 289 (and, later 427) cubic inches of American V8 goodness.

Shelby fought both AC and Ford over the rights to continue building Cobras based on the original AC design for years when he was still alive, but Superformance claims it has a license from Shelby himself to build “official” continuation Cobras, and this one is just stunning.  According to the teaser, it’s based on the Mark III roadster, which is a more evolved version than, say, the more track-focused 289 FIA version of the car.  This one does have the flared fenders of the Shelby Cobra (unlike the AC), but does not have the shiny roll bars, a rumbling, side-mounted exhaust, or a gaudy hood scoop feeding air into the engine bay of the 427.

Instead, it’s just pretty. If you’ve never understood the appeal of the original Shelby Cobra, even, you’ll probably understand the appeal of this classically beautiful Superformance roadster (shown here in a metallic gray).

electric Mark III Shelby Cobra
It looks even better without the hood scoop. Image courtesy Superformance.

Another major difference between the Superformance product compared to the AC version is intent. While the British AC-built electric Cobra is all about fun in the sun, the Superformance version is expected by many to be a much more serious performance car. That said, they’ve only shown it rolling around quietly in a single video — and we all know what that could mean.

Enough talk! You can watch Superformance’s teaser video for yourself below, and then let us know whether you prefer their version of the electric roadster to AC’s in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

Superformance Teases Electric Cobra

Source | Images:  Superformance, via Carscoops.


Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Latest CleanTechnica TV Video


Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.