RE: No more cars from TVR, says Smolensky
Discussion
JonRB said:
No, his point is that the rich heritage of an established brand is a stepping stone you can stand on for success and that the job is harder without it. So you can put your rolley eyes away there.
Why else would VAG bother resurrecting the Bugatti brand, or Mercedes-Benz the Maybach brand?
That'll be the Maybach brand they've just announced will be going away?Why else would VAG bother resurrecting the Bugatti brand, or Mercedes-Benz the Maybach brand?
Zumbruk said:
Twincam1 said:
trickymex said:
Why don't they go down the kit car route?
I've been saying that for years Zumbruk said:
That'll be the Maybach brand they've just announced will be going away?
Finding a suitable brand to build on is one thing, but then you have got to do something useful with it - ideally it should add to your core brand's main forte (building big wafty limos) rather than providing more of the same with some questionable adorments, too...300bhp/ton said:
Zumbruk said:
Twincam1 said:
trickymex said:
Why don't they go down the kit car route?
I've been saying that for years Ridiculous. If Morgan can build cars successfully along with the likes of Radical, Noble etc (All in a shed pretty much) there is no reason why TVR couldn't in the right hands. I just wish he would sell the name or at least release the rights for someone else to make something of it. They have the fanbase and the potential just a idiot behind the wheel (No pun intended 
). Hopefully he'll see sense and let someone else have a go one day. It'll be interesting to see if the prices of sags rise this week 
). Hopefully he'll see sense and let someone else have a go one day. It'll be interesting to see if the prices of sags rise this week Zumbruk said:
Nope. But then this is an Internet forum, not the SMMT.
So how do you know the kit market is dead too then? There seems to be plenty of companies and builders at the moment. I admit I've not been to any of the national kit car shows for a few years, but the last one I went too seemed rather popular and well presented.Zumbruk said:
JonRB said:
No, his point is that the rich heritage of an established brand is a stepping stone you can stand on for success and that the job is harder without it. So you can put your rolley eyes away there.
Why else would VAG bother resurrecting the Bugatti brand, or Mercedes-Benz the Maybach brand?
That'll be the Maybach brand they've just announced will be going away?Why else would VAG bother resurrecting the Bugatti brand, or Mercedes-Benz the Maybach brand?
"Why else would VAG bother resurrecting the Bugatti brand, or BMW the MINI brand?"
(MINI was a brilliant move to introduce a FWD BMW without breaking the promise that 'zer vill never be a FWD BMW'
)300bhp/ton said:
For the record, I'm not saying anyone could jump in within a few months and be a new TVR. But logic suggest there must still be people interested in such a vehicle. So start out aiming to build 1 to 2 cars a week and take it from there.
But unless you can point me at someone that makes TVR like cars today, I still say I'm surprised nobody else has tried. Dax still build and sell the 427 (once called Tojeiro) and there are a number of other Cobra and Healey replica makers. There's also a healthy number of Se7en a like and even Ariel Atom a-likes available these days. But none seem to be offering a TVR like vehicle of original design. Maybe the GKD Legend counts though... but even so. I'm still surprised that no pioneering business person hasn't tried such a thing.
Lee Noble is aiming for that market with Fenix, his new company. He's got previous in the market and is planning on starting small, so he's doing exactly what you say. He even showed his prototype to the mags in early 2010. Strangely I can't get on his website this morning.But unless you can point me at someone that makes TVR like cars today, I still say I'm surprised nobody else has tried. Dax still build and sell the 427 (once called Tojeiro) and there are a number of other Cobra and Healey replica makers. There's also a healthy number of Se7en a like and even Ariel Atom a-likes available these days. But none seem to be offering a TVR like vehicle of original design. Maybe the GKD Legend counts though... but even so. I'm still surprised that no pioneering business person hasn't tried such a thing.
I'm sure there is a market for that kind of car. Hell I'm in the market for that kind of car. Unfortunately it would appear that the market isn't big enough to sustain many companies- Morgan, Lotus and possibly Ginetta are the only ones to make a go of it. TVR, Jensen, Marcos and a host of others have proved how difficult it can be over the last 10 years. When you've got to develop the suspension, drivetrain, air conditioning, parking sensors and the million other things that 99% of the market requires it's difficult to survive on 1-2 cars per week.
300bhp/ton said:
Zumbruk said:
Nope. But then this is an Internet forum, not the SMMT.
So how do you know the kit market is dead too then?300bhp/ton said:
There seems to be plenty of companies and builders at the moment. I admit I've not been to any of the national kit car shows for a few years,
QED.How times change.
I remember walking the Racing Car and the Motor Shows in the late 60s and early 70s eyeing the Ginetta and TVR stands. Usually, it was more difficult which to eye on TVR stands, the cars or the glamour, what with the likes of Martin Lilley's 'extras' flaunting themselves all over the bonnets!
I went the path of Ginetta and stayed to this day. Bit of irony that the guy who should have saved TVR in modern times is the guy who saved Ginetta!
A look ahead?
'Hey dad, look at all those TVRs (wind turbines) in that field.'
I remember walking the Racing Car and the Motor Shows in the late 60s and early 70s eyeing the Ginetta and TVR stands. Usually, it was more difficult which to eye on TVR stands, the cars or the glamour, what with the likes of Martin Lilley's 'extras' flaunting themselves all over the bonnets!
I went the path of Ginetta and stayed to this day. Bit of irony that the guy who should have saved TVR in modern times is the guy who saved Ginetta!
A look ahead?
'Hey dad, look at all those TVRs (wind turbines) in that field.'
OMG!!Twincam16 said:
I've been saying that for years - I reckon a TVR kit would be a viable alternative to the myriad Cobra replicas out there.
I reckon they could use one chassis style and offer kits with M-series and Griffith bodies.
Couple of points to consider.I reckon they could use one chassis style and offer kits with M-series and Griffith bodies.
I think that I am right in saying that the manufacturing rights to the M Series and maybe pre M Series cars are no longer owned by TVR, but by David Gerald Sportscars.
Secondly, I just don't think that there is a market for a "new" TVR kit car in the style of a Griffith or M Series.
Building a kit car these days is a massive pain in the arse. The IVA test is expensive and (with some justification) imposes lots of safety requirements, emissions and noise restrictions on the builder.
Then there is the cost and hassle of registering the bloody thing and the chance that you might end up with a Q plate.
It is far easier and cheaper just to buy a scruffy Vixen, 3000M or Griff and to restore it around a new chassis.
No worries about donor vehicles, no IVA, no registration hassles and you end up with the genuine article which will be eligible for classic insurance and maybe even historic status and free road tax if you pick a Vixen.
I suspect that there would be rather more of a market for a reinterpretation of the Sagaris or the Tuscan 2, perhaps sold in kit form as a painted and trimmed body with separate chassis, but that's never going to happen.
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