So who fancies a TVR boat then?
Discussion
Did anyone else see this article on Saturday in the telegraph???
A toe in the water
TVR and boats? What on earth could the Blackpool sports-car maker's new owner, Nikolai Smolensky, have been thinking of when he suggested buying a powerboat company and rebranding it as TVR?
Even compared with the notoriously fickle sports-car market, the luxury boat-building trade is a boom-and-bust rollercoaster and the most obvious link with amphibious cars is not quite the money-making scheme it appears. The amphibious Gibbs Aquada (Telegraph Motoring, December 20, 2003) demanded a huge R&D commitment before the amazing sea-going car got its wheels wet in earnest.
Yet, perhaps Smolensky's idea is not quite as daft as it seems...
Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen, DaimlerChrysler, Honda and Volvo all have marine divisions, where engine sizes range from 40,000bhp MTU gas-turbines powering fast ferries to the tiny 2bhp Honda outboard on the transom of a lake fisherman's dinghy. It's an enormous market, and the exotic high-performance end is one that TVR's engine division, TVR Power, might be able to tap in to.
Lamborghini's 8.2-litre V12 engines have been winning offshore powerboat races since the mid-1980s, which has fuelled the success of its larger-capacity cruising engine range, not to mention enhancing the reputation of the company's supercars.
TVR's marketing association with Ice Marine does not run to swapping of power units quite yet - the Farnham-based powerboat maker chiefly uses Mercury and Honda outboards, whereas a TVR Power engine would be an in-board, stern-drive unit.
Both companies have quite a lot in common, however, not least the outrageous styling of their products.
"A TVR is very extravagant and perhaps not the most practical of things, and Ice Marine boats are similar," said a TVR spokesman.
Nathan Knight, CEO of the Powerboat P1 World Championship, thinks TVR's young boss might be playing a long game. "It's an interesting development," he says. "Those Ice Marine boats are pushing the limits in design and performance, which would be a good tie-in for a car company like TVR."
According to Knight, powerboat racing is in a state of flux, which might present opportunities to new players in the market. "There is a lot of capital, but it is splintered, with a dearth of money coming to bear at a single place at a single time," he explains. With the dwindling competitiveness of the Lamborghini power units, a number of new players are entering the fray, including Caterpillar and Steyr.
"We're going to see a lot of consolidation over the next few years," predicts Knight, "which will favour those who are in the right position to take advantage of it. Smolensky just might be on to something here..."
A toe in the water
TVR and boats? What on earth could the Blackpool sports-car maker's new owner, Nikolai Smolensky, have been thinking of when he suggested buying a powerboat company and rebranding it as TVR?
Even compared with the notoriously fickle sports-car market, the luxury boat-building trade is a boom-and-bust rollercoaster and the most obvious link with amphibious cars is not quite the money-making scheme it appears. The amphibious Gibbs Aquada (Telegraph Motoring, December 20, 2003) demanded a huge R&D commitment before the amazing sea-going car got its wheels wet in earnest.
Yet, perhaps Smolensky's idea is not quite as daft as it seems...
Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen, DaimlerChrysler, Honda and Volvo all have marine divisions, where engine sizes range from 40,000bhp MTU gas-turbines powering fast ferries to the tiny 2bhp Honda outboard on the transom of a lake fisherman's dinghy. It's an enormous market, and the exotic high-performance end is one that TVR's engine division, TVR Power, might be able to tap in to.
Lamborghini's 8.2-litre V12 engines have been winning offshore powerboat races since the mid-1980s, which has fuelled the success of its larger-capacity cruising engine range, not to mention enhancing the reputation of the company's supercars.
TVR's marketing association with Ice Marine does not run to swapping of power units quite yet - the Farnham-based powerboat maker chiefly uses Mercury and Honda outboards, whereas a TVR Power engine would be an in-board, stern-drive unit.
Both companies have quite a lot in common, however, not least the outrageous styling of their products.
"A TVR is very extravagant and perhaps not the most practical of things, and Ice Marine boats are similar," said a TVR spokesman.
Nathan Knight, CEO of the Powerboat P1 World Championship, thinks TVR's young boss might be playing a long game. "It's an interesting development," he says. "Those Ice Marine boats are pushing the limits in design and performance, which would be a good tie-in for a car company like TVR."
According to Knight, powerboat racing is in a state of flux, which might present opportunities to new players in the market. "There is a lot of capital, but it is splintered, with a dearth of money coming to bear at a single place at a single time," he explains. With the dwindling competitiveness of the Lamborghini power units, a number of new players are entering the fray, including Caterpillar and Steyr.
"We're going to see a lot of consolidation over the next few years," predicts Knight, "which will favour those who are in the right position to take advantage of it. Smolensky just might be on to something here..."
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