Friday 6th May 2016

TVR's rebirth - can it work? PH Blog

Why we need more than renderings and a clay model under a sheet

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Confession time; although my job title says 'Editor, PistonHeads' my only direct experience of TVR is a brief suburban trundle in Garlick's Chimaera. The short of it is my professional gaze was elsewhere when TVR was last a going concern but, suffice to say, I've heard the stories and am fully aware of the historic bond between PistonHeads and TVR.

Perhaps this lack of emotional involvement is an advantage though. Because from where I currently sit I read all the news about TVR's rebirth with a degree of excitement and sincere desire for it all to play out as promised. And a cocked eyebrow that'd put Quentin Wilson to shame.

You may be surprised at the lack of coverage on 'new' TVR on PH's homepage thus far, especially given the column inches our colleagues at Autocar have devoted to it in recent days. Honest truth? Not for want of trying we've yet to establish a direct line of communication with Les Edgar and his team. Gents - if you're reading, give us a call!

If nothing else I'd like my scepticism proved wrong. But I look at the somewhat vague promises on the firm's official website and my brow furrows. And then I see 'TVR at the London motor show' followed by what's claimed to be a clay model of the car under a nailed down sheet. I'm not saying we need the return of nude models for TVR to make what it describes on its website as 'noise' at a British motor show. Building and teasing a sense of anticipation is all part of the game too. But you need foundations on which to do it. Renderings, a shape under a sheet and words on a website need fleshing out with something substantial, and soon.

We've got the announcements about the factoryin Wales, the exciting news that the car will be based on Gordon Murray's iStream production model and Cosworth's involvement in the engine. All of this is good. But, officially, lacking in details. Autocar's sources put numbers to the thing but they're still prefixed 'about', 'more than' and 'expected to'. Respectively you can apply those to £65,000, 400hp and sub four-second 0-60. There's also the news that 'almost' 400 deposits have been received for the car, whose name 'may' (or may not) be Griffith. Try as I might I just can't get that templated Sniff Petrol 'New British supercar' press release out of my head, and that was nearly 10 years ago. Probably doesn't help that the page it was posted on also contains a swipe at the 'old' TVR too.

I sincerely hope there are 'almost' 400 people left sufficiently cold by the Jaguar F-Type, Lotus's latest offerings, turbocharged Porsches, the Mercedes AMG GT and looming arrival of cars like the Maserati Alfieri to put their money down for a new TVR. One designed from scratch and built in a new factory whose exact location is yet to be confirmed. Because the idea of a raw, minimalist and invigoratingly uncouth V8-powered rear-wheel drive coupe with a manual gearbox is right up my street. As it is of those with direct experience of TVRs of the past.

Believers need to believe in something though. Somebody whip that sheet off and be done with it!

Dan

Watch the video here

[Sources: Autocar, TVR.co.uk, SniffPetrol, Cosworth]

 

[sidesauce]

I'm inclined to agree. All the talk sounds great but let actual substance show forth please. With a quickness!

[Speed_Demon]

Agreed. I want to optimistic, but past experience tells me to do otherwise.

[s2000db]

Surely, no one in their right mind put more than £100 deposit on their CC for one of these, did they??

[Ozzie Osmond]

One thing I can promise you - the "new TVR" will not be a hand built 400bhp monster costing £65,000.

The biggest question of all is "how much"? Given that a Jaguar F-type V8 starts from £92,000 I think there's a message there...

[KTF]

Oh my, someone has desecrated the sacred cow. Batten down the hatches before the TVR fanboys arrive to point out that everything is rosy in the garden of Eden.

[coopedup]

KTF said:

Oh my, someone has desecrated the sacred cow. Batten down the hatches before the TVR fanboys arrive to point out that everything is rosy in the garden of Eden.

ex TVR owner

[B10]

I remain optimistic.
To get a car into production is not easy these days. They need to garner interest and deposits to keep investors happy whilst they develop the car. To reveal too early could mean disappointment if it were late or rushed resulting in negative press and loads of posts on this forum.
They have to develop a car from scratch, build a factory and satisfy customers used to cars from big car companies who have loads of cash to spend on cup-holders.
So lets be kind and constructively criticise them when the car is launched and available for test.

[m4ckg]

KTF said:

Oh my, someone has desecrated the sacred cow. Batten down the hatches before the TVR fanboys arrive to point out that everything is rosy in the garden of Eden.

You'd probably be better of talking about electric cars and lowering of curbs.....pistonheads...the clue is in the title

[V8RX7]

B10 said:

So lets be kind and constructively criticise them when the car is launched and available for test.

To be fair if you "show" a car under a blanket then you deserve a fair bit of criticism.

[k-ink]

I really hope the car turns out to be a beauty, like a modern Griffith. I also hope it turns into a huge success we can all be proud of in the UK.

Come on TVR, post up a photo...









No, not like this:

[V8 GMS]

B10 said:

I remain optimistic.
So lets be kind and constructively criticise them when the car is launched and available for test.

^^^^
This

[unsprung]

That photo-realistic mural... It's composed solely of coloured tape? The result resembles something created by Roy Lichtenstein. Outstanding!

In addition to wanting to see more of this car, the fascia feels familiar. But I can't put my finger on it.

Like others here, I'm fearful of cost. Will this car wear a price tag of the one percent?

[Leggy]

Sounds like cloud cuckoo land. Their deadline to produce a car of this type is totally unrealistic. It might look amazing, but how reliable will it be. Let's face it, that has always been their problem.
These teaser pics and covered clay model is tosh. At some point they need to reveal what's underneath. Look out how Zenos engaged with everyone. Didn't do them any harm.

[Baryonyx]

Seeing is believing, they say. I'd like to think TVR will come back strong.

[BJWoods]

It is not going to be 400bhp

It is 400+BHP per tonne. Power to weight..
A Mclaren 570 is ~ 422 bhp per tonne.

Tvr weight is going to be ~1150kg. Which equates to ~460 BHP +

I asked today at the motorshow (I'm a deposit holder).

It's shorter than an F type, similar width
Gordon Murray has his name heavily linked to this, he was hiving a talk on tvr stand width a deep press crush yesterday. Making it all at least very plausible. We will see.

Edited by BJWoods on Friday 6th May 20:11

[Krikkit]

BJWoods said:

It is not going to be 400bhp

It is 400+BHP per tonne. Power to weight..
A Mclaren 570 is ~ 422 bhp per tonne.

Tvr weight is going to be ~1150kg. Which equates to ~460 BHP +

I asked today at the motorshow (I'm a deposit holder).

Iy's shorter than an F type, similar width

I should certainly hope it has more than 400hp! The engine from Ford is 412hp, and that's before Cosworth have had their fun.

[rtz62]

Leggy said:

Sounds like cloud cuckoo land. Their deadline to produce a car of this type is totally unrealistic. It might look amazing, but how reliable will it be. Let's face it, that has always been their problem.
These teaser pics and covered clay model is tosh. At some point they need to reveal what's underneath. Look out how Zenos engaged with everyone. Didn't do them any harm.

Valid point about reliability, especially on limited budget, small production numbers cars.
Having said that, there should be no reason why they shouldn't have more attention put into the construction process; I may be written mg but I'm not aware of many Aerial Atom owners complaining (mind you, there's not much actual 'car' to go wrong...)
I had a Chimera, drone it as my daily, and the only problem I ever encountered was a hot-start issue (cured by an uprated relay wiring kit for £28). I loved every minut of owning it, and if I had the money would delve into TVR ownership again, even though it won't be the same as when Peter Wheeler owned it....

[Edmundo2]

I hope it's great. It's got all the right ingredients. I love the frontal view image of the tape render and I think the proportions of the car look great. I like the grill, the double bubble roof , the headlight sculpting etc. However from the look of the buck I can't say I like the idea of the flat sided arch lips which look a bit Peugeot to me and I hope the wheel/tyre combo are more race than bling and not unnecessarily huge. I hope they nail the colour and texture combos and I hope it sounds like it belongs on track and hits the right balance between usability and rawness.

Above all I hope it's a sustainable business model and that they delay any launch until the press car is nailed down so that when it's unveiled it's gobsmacking and gets rave reviews and thus gets the re birth off to a great start.

[ellroy]

I've had Chimps, Cerbs and Tuscans.

I love TVR, I hope they succeed, but I just bought a GTS from those lads at Stuttgart.

There needed to be much firmer proposals and detail before I'd part with the better part of £100k and the constant 'about', 'around' and 'it may look like' just reinforces that for me, sadly.

[Ekona]

I can't see this doing anything other than dying on it's arse tbh.

No chance of it being that light (1150), no chance of it being that price (65K). It may well drive nicely, but it'll need to do a hell of a lot more than that to pull people away from the bigger brands. There's a very good reason TVR died, and I can't see anything here to tempt me to put down a deposit.


It's as much pie in the sky stuff as the latest Mexican or Romanian supercar. And we all know what happens to those.