Tuesday 3rd June 2008

New Brit Bruiser Breaks Cover

The car that wants to be the new TVR

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A new British sportscar has been launched that is designed to be the spiritual successor to TVR and Marcos. The Breckland Beira is a 400bhp British-built two-seater that uses GM’s LS2, 6-litre V8. The car is based on the GM Kappa platform and uses many of the company’s tried and tested parts in a bid to keep the costs down. The Beira weighs in at a not exactly flyweight 1,400kg but should be good for 0-62mph in under five seconds, although the top speed is curiously limited to 155mph.

‘Beira carries on from where Marcos and TVR left off in terms of providing maximum performance for money spent, and real individuality,’ said Breckland director Mike Rawlings. ‘We wanted to showcase Breckland’s design and engineering capabilities and produce an exciting driver’s car, with excellent handling dynamics, terrific performance and great looks,’ he added. Breckland is based in Norfolk but is part of Hong Kong-based multi-national Riche Holdings. The company normally specialises in prototypes for other car manufacturers such as Mosler, but this time has decided to create its very own vehicle. The Beira has been designed to run on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as well as petrol, which the company says gives it a range of 700 miles between stops.

‘We didn’t set out to reinvent the wheel with Beira,’ continued Easton. ‘The Kappa platform offers a highly competent chassis, which has been subject to intensive crash and safety tests, and is readily available. ‘Since all of the hard work has been done, it has enabled us to keep development costs low.  Over the years, and through our own experience, we’ve seen many supercars come and go, due in part to their massive development costs, and we were adamant that we would not fall into the same trap. ‘That’s why we developed the Beira where we needed to, not for the sake of it.  It has also enabled us to bring the project to fruition in less than 12 months.’

The car features fully independent suspension engineered by Breckland in association with KW Suspension which is said to be focused towards good handling with a firm ride. Stopping power is provided by 325mm ventilated discs on all four corners, the fronts being grasped by six-pot callipers, with four-pot at the rear, both from UK specialists, HiSpec.  Inside there are such luxuries as a 7” TFT colour touch screen, DVD player, direct iPod and Bluetooth connectivity, and an in-built 30Gb hard disk drive (HDD) navigation system. Buyers can also opt for the rear reversing camera, which relays the view behind onto the same in-dash display. The Breckland Beira on-the-road price will be confirmed shortly but is expected to be in the region of £55,000 in the UK. The car is expected to break cover at Motorexpo, Canary Wharf, and will be on sale from this November.

 

[Stig]

Well, I really, REALLY hope this one actually sees the light of day. The segment needs something that's affordable and fun.

But - it's 15K too expensive.

Edited by Stig on Tuesday 3rd June 11:47

[toohuge]

Looks very nice, hope it does well.

[The Walrus]

Oh do you mind if I use the above as I was doodling(sp) earlier and came up with what I think will change the super no HYPER car arena for years to come.

Yep it is a sausage powered 9 wheeled blade style concept car that will cover space and time by the introduction to its warp drive of two rasher of bacon.

Edited - to say stig removed the form that I was waffling about !! that will teach me not to quote !!

Edited by The Walrus on Tuesday 3rd June 11:12

[cocopop]

Very nice, looks a little Corvette-like from the front.

[cronk-flakes]

If it's english, why is it LHD?

But it does look fantastic!

Edited by cronk-flakes on Tuesday 3rd June 11:14

[scimmy ben]

LHD only?

Based on the Kappa platform, it will be

Edited by scimmy ben on Tuesday 3rd June 11:15

[Baffled Spoon]

Looks really rather nice. I especially like the Ferrari-esque rear end. Can't help thinking the price is too steep considering the mechanicals and the fact that GMs own vechicles with similar drivetrains cost considerably less.

[layabout]

It does look good,but it's not as raw as a TVR.

[anonymous-user]

im normally the first to sg off these silly concepts from the caparo to the amari, but this looks great, with an off the shelf engine... whats not to like?

[anonymous-user]

Quoted in a piece on this car amongst others at Top Marques as saying it won't be made in right hand drive, I quote, "But if we sell what we can to make a profit in Europe then why bother with right-hand drive?". Not quite the British spirit of TVR and Marcos...

[R3UMP]

Fantastic looking car - love the back end treatment The whole car looks very complete and well finished

Yep I quite fancy a Beir - a

[RJDM3]

looks nice. But whats the point making RHD hardly anyone will buy it in the uk as i assume it will probably but + £40k, can sell far more cars that are LHD

[Ahonen]

I'm really pleased this has appeared in public. Mike Rawlings (Breckland boss) was very excited about it last time I saw him.

The guys at Breckland are brilliant engineers and did wonderful things with the Mosler project (pretty much re-engineering the whole car), so I have great confidence in this. It has the potential to do very well indeed.

This is not a project that fits in with the usual Sniff Petrol supercar form that someone will doubtless post in a minute - it's a good car, built by very astute and talented people.

[john_r]

The new Beira will be available in both left and right-hand-drive configurations and will go on sale in Europe this November with a price tag of £55,000 ($108,000).

From here: http://www.motorauthority.com/cars/general-motors/...

[wab172uk]

cocopop said:

Very nice, looks a little Corvette-like from the front.

Thought the exact same thing. Rest of the car works for me though.

[jup]

Looks good from the pictures, LHD is a shame though, hopefully the supposedly lower development costs will actually keep this one afloat

[sprinter885]

I think this is one car that deserves better than the usual "Looks a bit like an xxx- to me" as at least this is a car in the flesh & not the usual promises from other concepts.
It really sounds like they have thought it all out & I seriously wish them every success. Personally I think it looks damn good-even seat fabric is appealing and price seems pretty sensible.

Good luck
shame they're launching in high fuel price times-but I suspect target audience won't bother about such things-especially being LPG compatible

Edited by sprinter885 on Tuesday 3rd June 11:25

[J111]

LS2 aside, I can't get that excited about a bodykitted Opel GT

[900T-R]

wab172uk said:

cocopop said:

Very nice, looks a little Corvette-like from the front.

Thought the exact same thing. Rest of the car works for me though.

Hmmm... my first thought when I saw the 3/4 front vision was "Opel GT"...

[900T-R]

Ah... beaten to it.