12 electric cars to see at the 2023 Festival of Speed

1. Audi Hoonitron

We begin of course with the crazy Audi. It’s a one-off all-electric tribute to the original legendary Quattro, designed to create a show of eviscerated rubber in Las Vegas with Ken Block at the wheel. What a spectacular film Electrikhana is and indeed, sadly, proved to be Ken’s last. At the Festival of Speed, we’ll be remembering Ken as the 1,400PS monster Audi he partnered in the creation of gets sent up the Hill by Audi Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen. Don’t miss it.

2. Porsche Mission X

Porsche’s could-be supercar, the Mission X, won’t be on the Hill at the 2023 Festival of Speed. It’s still definitely worth a look though, given it’ll be on the spectacular Porsche stand. Consider also that, given this is a car that divided so many on its reveal, it’s worth a poke around in the metal to really make your mind up. Do so and you’ll discover commonality with its lusty predecessors, the Carrera GT and 918, in that it remains an utter piece of jewellery to look at, inside and out. We sorely hope it spawns a Porsche hypercar for a new era.

3. Pininfarina Battista Nino Farina

Pininfarina’s classically beautiful hypercar is with us at the Festival of Speed this year, in the form of a very special Edizione Nino Farina. This Rosso Nino and Bianco Sestriere beauty with Glorioso wheels is specified as a nod to the first ever F1 World Champion Nino Farina, nephew of Battista, the founder of PininFarina. Just five of these stunners will be built with the first taking to the Hill with Nick Heidfeld at the wheel. So its ample 1,900PS will be exercised adequately in a manner befitting a former Hill record-holder…

4. Caterham Project V

Caterham’s take on an electric sportscar is entirely compelling, both to look at and in terms of its specs. Weighing under 1,200kg and with less than 300PS, it’s a far cry from many of the lead-footed monsters that claim to be sporty EVs to date. While Project V won’t be running on the Hill, we strongly encourage you to go and check it out on the Caterham stand and maybe pester them into building it. If you succeed, you might be able to have one as soon as 2025.

5. McMurtry Speirling Pure

When the McMurtry obliterated our Hill record last year, the questions surrounding it included “What??”, “How??” and most of all, “Can I have one?”. Clearly enough people with serious money asked, because the Speirling Pure is a McMurtry you can buy that, in theory, could be a lot faster than the car that took the Hill by storm last year with its wider tyres and revised fan-powered aero. See it running on the Hill at the 2023 Festival of Speed, as well as the record-breaking car, which will be in the Goodwood 75 Batch.

6. AIM EV Sport 01

A potential answer to the wiley Caterham comes from AIM and the man who designed the Nissan GT-R, Shiro Nakamura. Like the Caterham, it’s intended to be lightweight, pretty and compact, though its 490PS and 1,425kg are both a bit broader than the Caterham’s numbers. Like the Caterham too, this is an exploration of what could be, rather than an outright promise of production. It will be on running on the Hill but go see it in the paddocks and pester them to build it. The world will always be a better place with more sportscars.

7. BMW i5

The all-electric version of the new 5 Series, the BMW i5, will be in action at the Festival of Speed and presents a serious option for EV buyers. It’s also extremely powerful, nixing the e60 M5’s 510PS V10 even when in its ‘normal’ 517PS mode. In ‘Boost’ mode, it’ll deploy 601PS to all four wheels via two electric motors. Conversely, it’ll also do 320 miles on a charge – or 361 miles in the lower-spec eDrive model.

8. Hyundai Ioniq 5 N

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is a massive moment for the Korean marque, for it's the first time its young yet lauded N brand will be applied to an EV. That means the 5 N has to be really good to be up to the standards of the i20N and i30N that it follows. Happily, it will certainly have insane performance, with the twin-motor 570PS powertrain familiar to those with experience with the Kia EV6 GT. See it in action on the Festival of Speed Hill, alongside the spectacular Vision 74 Concept, where it will make its global dynamic debut.

9. MG EX4

MG has up to this point been entirely unashamed of its wholesale embrace of the future or motoring, with few nods to its past. Well at the 2023 Festival or Speed, the storied British marque is to rediscover it's penchant for performance, with the Cyberster roadster, MG4 X Power and MG4 Rally, a one-off tribute to the spectacular Metro 6R4 Group B car from the 1980s. So yes, it's an MG4 with a simply insane splitter, wing and arches. Could it have been anything else? See it in action on the Hill.

10. Alpine A290B

Speaking of electric hot hatches, we have the spectacular Alpine A290B in action on the Hill. This early prototype served as a preview or Alpine's first EV and indeed, the first proper crossover point between it and parent Renault, being a fully hot version of wonderful Renault 5 EV. Being the Alpine, it's a lot sportier, a lot lustier and indeed, will be a lot faster. Don't miss its runs throughout the weekend.

11. Lotus Eletre R

When the Eletre was revealed, you could have been forgiven for thinking this was a concept car that was years from production. Well, far ahead of expectations, it's ready and running flat out on the Hill at the Festival or Speed, with 900PS (in this Eletre R), looking more or less unchanged and with  a jewel-like plush interior. It might not be a Lotus as you've come to know them, but with money to invest and always-present Lotus expertise, we bet it's brilliant.

12. Polestar 3

Polestar are another performance electric brand under Geely. Spun off from Volvo, the Polestar 3 is set to be the marque's first production model that truly differentiates itself from its Swedish stablemates, especially in terms of style. If you're in the market for an electric family crossover SUV, this could be one to shortlist for 2024.

The 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed is underway! You can see every moment of the action by watching our live stream.