RE: No more cars from TVR, says Smolensky
Discussion
Just found this thread, there has been much discussion on a parallel subject on PH, how to revive the kitcar business in this country. It was suggested getting hold of the TVR body moulds and grafting onto a Gardner Douglas Cobra replica chassis or maybe the Sebring Healey replica or similar, by using an existing kitcar company and mostly existing parts and suppliers, it could be made a viable solution. From details on here though the copyright issue would have to be sorted, but maybe an interested party could be brought onside??
With over 6,000 Chimaeras and 2,000+ Griffith produced and available at reasonable prices, IMHO it makes no sense at all to put Chim & Griff bodies on a Cobra rep tubular spaceframe (and much less so on a ladder frame!)
Produce a more modern chassis like the Morgan/Lotus/Aston/Wiesmann alloy tubs or even a carbon fibre tub(maybe with tubular spaceframes front and rear), providing better stiffness, corrosion resistance and side impact protection, and update the rest of the mechanicals (aerospace grade wiring loom with better connectors, engine management, etc), improve the quality of fittings and fixtures and you might have a USP against the hundreds of exisitng cars for sale in the classifieds...
Produce a more modern chassis like the Morgan/Lotus/Aston/Wiesmann alloy tubs or even a carbon fibre tub(maybe with tubular spaceframes front and rear), providing better stiffness, corrosion resistance and side impact protection, and update the rest of the mechanicals (aerospace grade wiring loom with better connectors, engine management, etc), improve the quality of fittings and fixtures and you might have a USP against the hundreds of exisitng cars for sale in the classifieds...
900T-R said:
With over 6,000 Chimaeras and 2,000+ Griffith produced and available at reasonable prices, IMHO it makes no sense at all to put Chim & Griff bodies on a Cobra rep tubular spaceframe (and much less so on a ladder frame!)
Produce a more modern chassis like the Morgan/Lotus/Aston/Wiesmann alloy tubs or even a carbon fibre tub(maybe with tubular spaceframes front and rear), providing better stiffness, corrosion resistance and side impact protection, and update the rest of the mechanicals (aerospace grade wiring loom with better connectors, engine management, etc), improve the quality of fittings and fixtures and you might have a USP against the hundreds of exisitng cars for sale in the classifieds...
Problem with that is you'd end up without the niche that TVR occupied in the first place.Produce a more modern chassis like the Morgan/Lotus/Aston/Wiesmann alloy tubs or even a carbon fibre tub(maybe with tubular spaceframes front and rear), providing better stiffness, corrosion resistance and side impact protection, and update the rest of the mechanicals (aerospace grade wiring loom with better connectors, engine management, etc), improve the quality of fittings and fixtures and you might have a USP against the hundreds of exisitng cars for sale in the classifieds...
Build it properly with a bespoke engine and it'd suffer in comparison with the Aston Martin AMV8.
Build it with a Chevy V8 and the Corvette will make it look overpriced.
In order to be successfully revived, a new TVR needs to be cheap. There just aren't any decently brawny sports cars available for £30k with the exception of the Nissan 370Z. German rivals are too expensive and numb by comparison and if you could get a SWB V8 monster for Z-money, it'd work.
Twincam16 said:
Problem with that is you'd end up without the niche that TVR occupied in the first place.
Build it properly with a bespoke engine and it'd suffer in comparison with the Aston Martin AMV8.
Build it with a Chevy V8 and the Corvette will make it look overpriced.
In order to be successfully revived, a new TVR needs to be cheap. There just aren't any decently brawny sports cars available for £30k with the exception of the Nissan 370Z. German rivals are too expensive and numb by comparison and if you could get a SWB V8 monster for Z-money, it'd work.
Sorry, but no. AM V8V is a slightly softer 911 alternative, not a hardcore sportster. Weighs half as much again. V12V closer in spirit, but look what it costs. Build it properly with a bespoke engine and it'd suffer in comparison with the Aston Martin AMV8.
Build it with a Chevy V8 and the Corvette will make it look overpriced.
In order to be successfully revived, a new TVR needs to be cheap. There just aren't any decently brawny sports cars available for £30k with the exception of the Nissan 370Z. German rivals are too expensive and numb by comparison and if you could get a SWB V8 monster for Z-money, it'd work.
Corvette is a completely different thing yet again, and very obviously mass produced. Wiesmann and Morgan happily co-exist with it, so why not TVR (accepting that the days of 2,000 car per annum will never return, 200 will do it though at the right sort of margin).
A Chim 400 cost slightly more than a Morgan Plus 8 in 1994. I'd say for todays equivalent with 2010s chassis technology underneath, that'd translate to £75K or thereabouts.
A cheaply built 'new' TVR will always have a rather hard time against the existing 'proper' ones out there that are not especially hard or expensive to rebuild to a better-than-new standard, anyway.
Do it properly, do away with the er, ideosyncrasies that helped the brand's downfall once and for all - or let it be.
hypothesising about something extremely unlikely, but everyone is very focused that any potential rebirth of TVR would necessitate an expensive mix of big engine and superlight... maybe a return to further back roots is required? Maybe 2.5L, rebodied Subaru GT86 that looks nice... something that handles and can be cheap, rather than something that is straight line fast and can't?
NGS said:
Assembled in the Board room at Cosworth Technologies was a room full of 'Dr this' and 'Professor that' - the very cream of VW Group powertrain engineering. Add two key main board members who had flown over that morning for the meeting with the full agreement and knowledge of Dr Piech. This was an indication of support for the programme. I'd already driven the Spyker with the Audi 4.2 NA engine and that engine had soul - believe me! VW knew that a combination of sound, vibration and the look of the engine under the bonnet was critical to a TVR to retain that 'spirit' and, I have to say, these engineers really understood, they absolutely got it. I was the only person representing TVR for the initial discussions as the young Oligarch hadn't arrived on time and I was amazed by the gathered team's enthusiasm. Without actually saying it this interaction was a clear prelude for a much greater involvement from VW Group in TVR based purely on their excitement for the brand and the sheer uniqueness (they used the term 'Britishness') of the cars.
Nearly an hour late Nic turns up wearing jeans with holes in and a T shirt with the words "F**k Off" on the front (the whole word, not with the asterisks). Allowing him his youthful disrespect for the other attendees we all continued discussions for about 15 minutes during which he kept making German 'jokes' and then he stood up, said he was bored and just left. I then sat in a room full of very angry people making apologies for his behaviour...
One of the main board directors continued to remain in contact with Nic after that in an effort to offer assistance in managing a complex business (I'd been summarily fired that very afternoon for arranging the meeting with VW that he'd requested in the first place) and to try and stop him from a) running the slogan "Orgasmic Living" alongside TVR b) giving the wife or girlfriend of every new TVR owner a vibrator in a velvet-lined case as this is what they'd now need because of the time their partner would now be spending with his car and not her (I've heard all the jokes, don't worry) and c) marketing an energy drink called 'Jiz' - another great idea!! As I've said before, I really like Nic as a person. He can be very charming and clearly very bright, but creative marketing in ex-Iron Curtain countries is about as advanced as the Middle-Ages in the West and maybe it would have been better to start with turnips?
Wow.Nearly an hour late Nic turns up wearing jeans with holes in and a T shirt with the words "F**k Off" on the front (the whole word, not with the asterisks). Allowing him his youthful disrespect for the other attendees we all continued discussions for about 15 minutes during which he kept making German 'jokes' and then he stood up, said he was bored and just left. I then sat in a room full of very angry people making apologies for his behaviour...
One of the main board directors continued to remain in contact with Nic after that in an effort to offer assistance in managing a complex business (I'd been summarily fired that very afternoon for arranging the meeting with VW that he'd requested in the first place) and to try and stop him from a) running the slogan "Orgasmic Living" alongside TVR b) giving the wife or girlfriend of every new TVR owner a vibrator in a velvet-lined case as this is what they'd now need because of the time their partner would now be spending with his car and not her (I've heard all the jokes, don't worry) and c) marketing an energy drink called 'Jiz' - another great idea!! As I've said before, I really like Nic as a person. He can be very charming and clearly very bright, but creative marketing in ex-Iron Curtain countries is about as advanced as the Middle-Ages in the West and maybe it would have been better to start with turnips?
Please keep posting, and please come to a Blackpool TVRCC event if you're around!
900T-R said:
With over 6,000 Chimaeras and 2,000+ Griffith produced and available at reasonable prices, IMHO it makes no sense at all to put Chim & Griff bodies on a Cobra rep tubular spaceframe (and much less so on a ladder frame!)
Produce a more modern chassis like the Morgan/Lotus/Aston/Wiesmann alloy tubs or even a carbon fibre tub(maybe with tubular spaceframes front and rear), providing better stiffness, corrosion resistance and side impact protection, and update the rest of the mechanicals (aerospace grade wiring loom with better connectors, engine management, etc), improve the quality of fittings and fixtures and you might have a USP against the hundreds of exisitng cars for sale in the classifieds...
I would agree. I'm aware of a couple of ventures who have been working towards this. As always, in the current conditions, funding is almost non existent and it's going to take a fair wedge to reach point of sale and begin creating revenue. Produce a more modern chassis like the Morgan/Lotus/Aston/Wiesmann alloy tubs or even a carbon fibre tub(maybe with tubular spaceframes front and rear), providing better stiffness, corrosion resistance and side impact protection, and update the rest of the mechanicals (aerospace grade wiring loom with better connectors, engine management, etc), improve the quality of fittings and fixtures and you might have a USP against the hundreds of exisitng cars for sale in the classifieds...
All hail the "NEW WEDGE"!
Question. Personally I think designing and building the car is the easy bit, but is there a volume limit a new company can produce UNDER so that they don't have to smash up numerous cars to test for safety regs? Obviously this would save a ton of R&D and cash.
Question. Personally I think designing and building the car is the easy bit, but is there a volume limit a new company can produce UNDER so that they don't have to smash up numerous cars to test for safety regs? Obviously this would save a ton of R&D and cash.
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