Monday 15th March 2010

UPDATE: Farbio GTS rebadged As Ginetta

Ginetta buys out Farbio - new details and pics

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Ginetta has announced the purchase of Farbio, giving the classic British racing marque a 'turn-key' road car.

The existing Farbio GTS range will be rebadged Ginetta under a deal that leaves former Farbio boss Chris Marsh (of Marcos fame) leading the road car operation from its existing home in Bath.

The move is a significant expansion of the Ginetta product portfolio, as all three Farbio models will be taken under Ginetta's wing - the GTS, GTS350 and GTS400. It also gives Ginetta access to an in-house carbon fibre component production facility for the first time.

The GTS is a carbon bodied supercar currently powered by a 3.0 Ford Duratec V6 and six-speed box mounted behind the driver. It is available with a variety of power outputs from 260bhp in normally aspirated guise to 410bhp for the supercharged GTS400 version. Prices range from around £60K to £70k, and that is not expected to change in the short term.

PH's own RacingPete witnessed the unveiling of the first Ginetta badged version at Silverstone today, a top-spec supercharged model that the new owners have chosen to call the Ginetta F400. (See pics.)

Pete grabbed a few words with Ginetta boss Lawrence Tomlinson, who said the new marketing focus will be on maximising sales in the UK, whereas previously Farbio concentrated on Japan and the Middle-East. There are also plans afoot to homologate the car for use on the road in the US, with a team from Ginetta flying to the States to begin the certification process next week.

The new acquisition has not affected Ginetta's plan to create road-going versions of its G40 and G50 racers, but these will remain hard-core track-focused cars. The GTS range consists of 'proper' road cars that can be enjoyed on the track.

Tomlinson also has plans to further develop the GTS range, telling Pete the chassis is potentially good for up to 650bhp, so a much more potent Zetec-engined version could be on the cards in future.

[Derek Smith]

Best of luck with this project Lawrence.

Shame you didn't buy TVR though.

[cliffie]

Here here. Good to see a go getting company getting going on another project.

LNT turned Ginetta around, I think we will see good things for Farbio.

[Lefty Two Drams]

Great news!

The Farboud/Farbio naming thing was always a bit downmarket IMHO, Ginetta will add some vital brand recognition I hope.

Best of luck to them

ETA: I'd rather have one of these than an Evora. Can't think of another brand new car of this genre in this price range that I'd rather have.

Edited by Lefty Two Drams on Monday 15th March 12:01

[only1ian]

Prices from 60 pounds! Are they selling matchbox versions? I'll have two!

[MrTappets]

Well this is interesting. I've always liked the Farbio, though the name was never a strong point. A good product like the GTS combined with a good name like Ginetta could really add weight to the product. It'll be fantastic if we see some racing versions (though would that get in the way of the G50?) doing a single-make series.

Funny to think I first saw this thing back at the British Motor Show in 04 - It's barely changed since, so it's a good thing it looked fantastic to start with. Hopefully there'll be one at Wilton House Supercars in August.

[soad]

This is good news, best of luck to Ginetta.

[Roberty]

Well that should fix this cars biggest problem then, the name!

Farbio sounds like some sort of EuroTrash style Pop singing/Man we!

Ginetta GTS sounds like a serious piece of kit.

[RJDM3]

Think Marsh should thank his lucky stars that ginetta have done this before farbio went bankrupt due to selling very little amounts of cars. Best of luck to both of them in the future.

[Parabola]

Hope we get to see it racing at Le Mans one day!

[ewenm]

The big question is (as with all the new entries into this sector) how many customers do they need to take from Porsche to break even?

I wish them the best of luck but the market at £60k-£70k is very competitive. Hopefully they can sell enough to stay afloat.

[iggletiggle]

ewenm said:

(as with all the new entries into this sector)

its been around for a fair while ...!

good luck to lawrence and marsh

Edited by iggletiggle on Monday 15th March 12:29

[toppstuff]

I think this is fantastic news !

I really like the Farbio and could see myself buying one - but I could'nt get past the awful name and the worry that they may disappear from under me having just sunk a lot of money into one.

It is a terrific little car and rebadged and developed as a Ginetta it should be more credible.

This car has the potential to be a better looking ( and perhaps more successful ) option to the Evora.

Nice one .

[mybrainhurts]

cliffie said:

Here here

Where? Where?

[Oily Nails]

mybrainhurts said:

cliffie said:

Here here

Where? Where?

There! There!

[Lefty Two Drams]

In my humble opinion, if they could turn the car out at closer to £40-45k (so undercutting the Evora and 911) it would stand a much better chance of success.

[Gary C]

Farbio founder Chris Marsh

Not really fair to give the image that Chris is the originator of this car,

im sure Arash would have something to say about it

[simonrockman]

How nice to see such a positive thread on PH. Must be the spring sunshine.

[Ex Boy Racer]

hmmmm...
£60k is a lot of money to risk on something like this. You would need to be rich enough that it was pocket money.
And if you're that rich, you probably already have several better cars.
There was a market for these specials in the 60's when they were cheap and there were no mass market competitors. Now? Seriously, who would choose one of these rather than a cayman/911, SLK, Z4/M3, TTRS/RS5.
Unfortunately the same goes for the Evora

[GTRene]

good news, indeed Ginetta will be a better name too

[Lefty Two Drams]

Ex Boy Racer said:

Seriously, who would choose one of these rather than a cayman/911, SLK, Z4/M3, TTRS/RS5.

I would have one of these before all of the cars you mention apart from the 911.