In this paper, a new permanent-magnet (PM) linear motor is proposed, in which both the magnets and armature windings are placed in the short mover, while the long stator consists of iron core only. Hence, this new PM linear motor can be called a primary permanent-magnet linear motor. It exhibits the advantages of robustness, low cost, high efficiency, high power factor, and high thrust force density. It is especially suitable for long stator applications such as urban rail transit. In this paper, the topology and operation principle of this motor are discussed in detail. The steady-state characteristics including field distributions, flux-linkage, back-EMF, phase inductance and thrust force are investigated. In addition, the technique of skewing stator teeth is adopted to improve the electromagnetic performance. Results from finite element method (FEM) verified the theoretical analysis results.