Any response from TVR website?

[bad company]

My Chim 500 cost £42,421 new with some extras in 2002. Put that figure into an online inflation calculator and it comes to £61,247.44 in todays money.

I can see the new car costing more than that.

[unrepentant]

SAGTAFF said:

DamianS3 said:

IMHO TVR should return to roots in a way lightweight simple cars with no frills able to destroy boxster etc.. Probably 30 - 50k that would spark my interest.

Show them how they can develop and manufacture a low volume sports car then sell it for £40k but still make money and I am sure they would be all ears.

Getting the product right in terms of looks, performance and quality is key. People will then pay for it. Jaguar Landrover are shining examples of this.

JLR have a wonderfully engaged and forward thinking owner. TATA have invested $16 billion to make the company what it is today.

TVR didn't become aspirational by being no frills anyway. From Griff onwards the cars were a bit special with exotic interiors and outrageous design. Unfortunately they were not profitable, even at 50k 10 years ago the Sagaris was a loser and that was without driver aids, safety features or a proper warranty.

[bad company]

I just wish TVR had carried on making the Chim and the Griff. They would have had to use a different engine by now and to update on safety features etc., but I believe these models would have carried on selling to a niche market.

Certainly I would have changed my Chim for a new one by now.

[unrepentant]

bad company said:

I just wish TVR had carried on making the Chim and the Griff. They would have had to use a different engine by now and to update on safety features etc., but I believe these models would have carried on selling to a niche market.

TVR struggled to sell the last Chimms and Griffs. They are old fashioned compared to the T cars and the market had moved past them. People always look back with rose tinted specs but you can't buck the market.

[bad company]

unrepentant said:

TVR struggled to sell the last Chimms and Griffs. They are old fashioned compared to the T cars and the market had moved past them. People always look back with rose tinted specs but you can't buck the market.

I see your point but I still think there would be a market now for an uncomplicated fast sports car at a reasonable cost. Of course that is just my 'theorising'.

[Gazzab]

As unrepentant says its likely to be low volume with modern driving aids, a more modern chassis, a bought in engine (Audi V8?) and will be c£100k.
They will play on some of the heritage eg quirky, noisey, fun, different...but they won't be playing in the cheap or 'modern classic' market any more. IMHO

[Jasper Gilder]

My interest was in helping them to overcome TVRs traditional Achilles heel - pretty poor leadership. The cars were great, (I should know I've got three) the engineering was pretty good - but the factory management wasn't always stellar and every TVR exec I ever spoke to acknowledged this.

I was trying to bring to their attention the existence of a (closing today) Government scheme which would have given them a grant to get some decent support from people who have a lot of experience with SME business.

I got the impression they weren't very interested. I hope I'm wrong, but the fact you are a brilliant chassis engineer for example does not automatically mean that you are also brilliant at sorting out leadership and motivation issues in the fab.shop! None of us is perfect and cheap help should never be dismissed out of hand

[chris watton]

Gazzab said:

As unrepentant says its likely to be low volume with modern driving aids, a more modern chassis, a bought in engine (Audi V8?) and will be c£100k.
They will play on some of the heritage eg quirky, noisey, fun, different...but they won't be playing in the cheap or 'modern classic' market any more. IMHO

...Like a Wiesmann then, who have just gone bust, too?

[Gazzab]

Weismann played in modern Classic which I think restricts sales these days.