Do you feel the need for a festival of speed? The Goodwood Festival of Speed has long been a motorsport spectacular, aimed at getting racing fans closer to the stars and the action. It’s been held on the swanky driveway of the Duke of Richmond since 2003.
It has to be there because there’s no space anywhere else, what with the horse racing track, airfield, two golf courses, motor racing circuit, cricket pitch and car company (Rolls-Royce) on the duke’s estate.
In recent years the event has become an opportunity to debut new cars in the UK (sometimes world exclusives) because we no longer have a decent motor show, which is why we find an MG-badged electric city car in our list next to a 1,500hp Chinese supercar.
Whether you’re heading to the event of following the biggest announcements from home, here are the six EVs we’re most looking forward to seeing at Goodwood.
Renault 5 Turbo 3E
This is not your normal Renault 5 – it’s a 555hp mini-supercar version of the humble electric hatchback that pays homage to one of the craziest Group B rally inspired sports cars of the 1980s, the R5 Turbo.
It’s got a 70kWh battery, two electric motors, does 0–62mph in less than 3.5 seconds and it’ll cost £140,000 (before customisation – you could easily get it to £200k we’re told). There are ‘only’ 1,980 of them being built, the number a tribute to the year the original R5 Turbo was introduced.
It’s been built to drift and has a rally-style hydraulic handbrake as standard – we reckon this could be one of the more spectacular cars up the FoS hill in 2026. (And fingers crossed there might be a more affordable Lego version on the way too…)
Denza Z
Denza is the new premium sub-brand of the new Chinese brand BYD, it’s like carmaker inception. Denza’s first car in the UK will be the Z9GT sports car, but Goodwood will also see the debut of the company’s new supercar, the Z.
We’ve already seen the convertible version of the car (above) at the Beijing motor show, but if you prefer a roof then Denza has you covered – literally – with this one. It’s going to come with three electric motors and a load of power (over 1,000hp), enough to get the car to from 0–62mph in under two seconds and on to a 217mph top speed.
MG2
Too many electric supercars around the place? Don’t worry, MG’s keeping things humble with a teaser trailer for its new electric supermini. The Chinese carmaker is bringing a concept car to the Festival of Speed that will turn into the new MG2 when it goes on sale in 2027.
It’s one of many upcoming affordable new EVs that we applaud the existence of – there’s a new Dacia Spring coming, the Renault Twingo, and the much anticipated Volkswagen ID.1.
Alpine A110 Electric
The A110 was a revelation when it first came out in 2017 (first generation shown above) – exactly the sort of lightweight, fun to drive sports car that car companies used to churn out like sweets, but have sadly gone the way of the dinosaurs as everything got heavier and rippling with tech.
If any car company can manage to make a lightweight, fun to drive electric sports car then it’s Alpine, and the next generation of A110 is set to make its debut on the Goodwood hill. It’ll be our first glimpse of the new car (at least since the 2022 E-ternité concept teased a new e-A110) and we can’t wait.
McMurtry Spéirling Pure
The Spéirling is an absolutely bonkers bit of kit, a lovely tribute to the grand British tradition of wild-eyed engineers knocking things together in sheds. Company founder Sir David McMurtry was actually born in Ireland, but moved to the UK at the age of 18 and was adopted as one of our own.
Sadly he died in 2024, so he won’t get to see his electric fan car make production, but deliveries of the million pound track car start this summer and the final production version of the car will appear at Goodwood this year. The Spéirling still holds the record time for the Goodwood hillclimb, set in 2001 with ex-F1 driver Max Chilton at the wheel.
Yangwang U9 Extreme
Come on, BYD, this is getting silly. If Denza is the new premium sub-brand of the new Chinese brand, then Yangwang is the new luxury sub-brand of the Chinese brand BYD. And nothing says luxury like breaking the Nürburgring lap time with an insanely overpowered version of an electric supercar and setting a production car speed record (308.33mph incidentally). The U9 Extreme has since lost the ‘Ring title though, sad times.
That car will appear at Goodwood for the first time, as well as the new U7 saloon, which is set to come to the UK in 2027. Because if there’s one thing that British car buyers are really hankering for it’s more new companies launching.
