Abstract: A brushless permanent magnet electric motor (10) configured to have high saliency and low cogging torque, comprises a stator (30) having a plurality of stator teeth (36), and a rotor (50) having a permanent magnet (56) having a plurality of magnetic poles. The stator teeth (36) contain pole heads (37) having grooves (39) substantially parallel to the axial direction of the motor (10) formed thereon, which function to increase the number of magnetic stator poles of the motor (10), increasing saliency. The permanent magnet (56) contains a plurality of notches (58) on one side positioned between the plurality of magnetic poles, configured to decrease the coefficient of pole arc of the rotor (50), thereby decreasing cogging torque.