Peter Wheeler in Management Today
Discussion
Just found the following article in Management Today, had no idea that the Cerb was that labour intensive, I wonder why the expected orders didn’t come in, back then (prior to release) there was no knowledge of the engine issues was there?
Peter Wheeler
TVR
Former Owner of and consultant to the British carmaker
My best…
I suppose that on the technical side, my best decision was starting 10 years ago to make our own engines. We did it purely for the fun of it; it wasn’t a commercial decision. Everyone said: ‘It can’t be done – you need to spend billions of pounds’. It did give us quite a few problems for some time, so, in some ways, they were right.
Its very complex for a small company to design and make its own engine, and, as far as I am aware, no-one else has done it. The design process didn’t take very long, but making it work properly took three or four years. We had to design our own engine management system.
Since then, legislation on emissions has got tighter and it would now be very difficult for a company like tvr to install any engines in the car because the management system and the engine have become so integrated. So, by good luck, we have our own system and we know what to do and can comply with the latest nonsense about legislation for emissions. We would really be struggling without that.
My worst….
I make my worst decision about 5 times a day – I’ve made hundreds of them. But there was one decision made eight years ago that stayed with us.
We launched a car called the Cerbera, showing it at two consecutive motorshows, and we got quite a lot of orders for it. It was a complicated car to make: the first with our own engine, and the trimming was very labour intensive to fit.
I decided to man the company up to deal with a rate of 10 orders a week, just to make sure that customers wouldn’t have to wait longer than eighteen months. Because every job is hands on, it takes quite a lot of time to train workers, so it was 100 people – a big expansion of the workforce at that point. But the orders never came in at that rate. After eighteen months, more than half of those workers were surplus, and we didn’t get rid of them effectively because of the economics of the company.
Peter Wheeler
TVR
Former Owner of and consultant to the British carmaker
My best…
I suppose that on the technical side, my best decision was starting 10 years ago to make our own engines. We did it purely for the fun of it; it wasn’t a commercial decision. Everyone said: ‘It can’t be done – you need to spend billions of pounds’. It did give us quite a few problems for some time, so, in some ways, they were right.
Its very complex for a small company to design and make its own engine, and, as far as I am aware, no-one else has done it. The design process didn’t take very long, but making it work properly took three or four years. We had to design our own engine management system.
Since then, legislation on emissions has got tighter and it would now be very difficult for a company like tvr to install any engines in the car because the management system and the engine have become so integrated. So, by good luck, we have our own system and we know what to do and can comply with the latest nonsense about legislation for emissions. We would really be struggling without that.
My worst….
I make my worst decision about 5 times a day – I’ve made hundreds of them. But there was one decision made eight years ago that stayed with us.
We launched a car called the Cerbera, showing it at two consecutive motorshows, and we got quite a lot of orders for it. It was a complicated car to make: the first with our own engine, and the trimming was very labour intensive to fit.
I decided to man the company up to deal with a rate of 10 orders a week, just to make sure that customers wouldn’t have to wait longer than eighteen months. Because every job is hands on, it takes quite a lot of time to train workers, so it was 100 people – a big expansion of the workforce at that point. But the orders never came in at that rate. After eighteen months, more than half of those workers were surplus, and we didn’t get rid of them effectively because of the economics of the company.
MattW said:
My worst….
I make my worst decision about 5 times a day – I’ve made hundreds of them. But there was one decision made eight years ago that stayed with us.
We launched a car called the Cerbera,
His best, IMO, I love the car and it has given me very few problems, but a huge amount of pleasure. The interior is one of the best around and I have had more praise for the car than I could have ever imagined. Well done PW.
If more manufactures were as creative in their approach to car design our roads would be so much more interesting.
I gotta say that although I admire TVR for making their own engines, and what superb engines they are...
I would rather they did a top job modifying someone elses..... just think of the cars that have a modified engine ....
Noble, Masers, Zonda, Koeniggsegg, frankly you can almost include F1 on the list, and then you have the Viper - and not to forget the old Chim and Griff ...
so I don't think there can be any issues with this, and it would certainly help with parts and reliability, and maybe allow them to concentrate on the general build quality. I love my Cerb to bits, but I'm sorry the general quality is rubbish.
But I suppose the only reason TVRs are what they are is down to PWs pig headed and original approach.
I would rather they did a top job modifying someone elses..... just think of the cars that have a modified engine ....
Noble, Masers, Zonda, Koeniggsegg, frankly you can almost include F1 on the list, and then you have the Viper - and not to forget the old Chim and Griff ...
so I don't think there can be any issues with this, and it would certainly help with parts and reliability, and maybe allow them to concentrate on the general build quality. I love my Cerb to bits, but I'm sorry the general quality is rubbish.
But I suppose the only reason TVRs are what they are is down to PWs pig headed and original approach.
Do definitely think he's got the best/worst the wrong way round. The Cerb was the first TVR that I'd have called a "supercar" at its launch date, rather than a sports car, and showed a maturity of company/clientelle.
As for the engine debacle. Well... as much as I love the character of the S6, and even have some faith in it now, I bet you wouldn't be able to pick up a Tuscan for just over the £20k mark if it had an LS1 or similar block in it...
As for the engine debacle. Well... as much as I love the character of the S6, and even have some faith in it now, I bet you wouldn't be able to pick up a Tuscan for just over the £20k mark if it had an LS1 or similar block in it...
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