THE world’s first electric car specially developed for youngsters is coming to Darlington.

Firefly – a car designed for use by five to 10-year-olds – will be available for budding drivers at Mowden Park from Saturday.

Children will be able to have lessons on a specially created outdoor course, and the car will also eventually be available for purchase worldwide by those who find it useful.

The car, which has its top speed restricted to 10mph, has a number of settings for drivers with different levels of experience.

It also uses sensors to detect obstacles in time to bring the car to a halt, whilst adults are able to stop the car from up to 120 metres away in case of an emergency.

Firefly is the creation of Young Driver Motor Cars, a division of Young Driver – which has provided more than 400,000 driving lessons for under 17s.

Kim Stanton, who heads up Young Driver, said: “Last September we were delighted to officially launch Firefly, the first electric car aimed at five to 10 year olds, and now it’s great that youngsters in Darlington can try the car out for themselves at Mowden Park rugby club.

“Firefly has taken over a year to come together, and its creation involved the hard work of many talented and experienced people from the UK’s vibrant and successful automotive industry,” she said.

“We were surprised that nothing existed for this age range other than plastic toys, and it felt like we had to take up the challenge and run with it,” she added.

The first two-seater Firefly cars were revealed in pre-production prototype form last April at the Gadget Show Live.

Since then, the company has continued to develop, test and refine Firefly, working with designers and UK automotive suppliers to create the finished product which handles and drives like a full-sized car.

Ms Stanton added: “Firefly is something very special, it’s a real car in its own right, designed, engineered and manufactured in the Midlands.

“We know that youngsters will enjoy driving the car and that through this they will learn about road safety, finding out about the basics of driving and gaining a better understanding of how it feels to be behind the wheel,” she said.

“That can only be of benefit when it comes to them being pedestrians, cyclists and future motorists out there driving on the country’s roads,” she added.