TVR 'laying off half its staff'

[S4CJO]

<b>TVR 'laying off half its staff' </b>

TVR, the UK's biggest independent sports carmaker, is laying off half of its workforce, a union has warned.
The Transport and General Workers' Union said half of the firm's 300 staff had received a letter telling them to stay home from Monday.

Production at the company's Blackpool plant is said to have fallen from 12 cars a week to two.

The firm was bought in 2004 by young Russian multi-millionaire Nikolay Smolensky, who was just 23 at the time.

No-one at TVR was immediately available for comment on Friday morning.

Super-rich father

Mr Smolenksy's personal wealth is estimated at $100m (£56m).

Much of his money is reported to have come from the businesses created by his father: Russia's first private banker, the oligarch Alexander Smolensky.

TVR currently makes five different models - the Sagaris, Tuscan, Tuscan Convertible, T350 and Tamora.

The firm was founded in 1947 by Trevor Wilkinson, who used three consonants from his first name for the company title.

TVR's cars have long been popular with sports car enthusiasts who value an exciting drive and value for money.

Yet at the same time, it is fair to say that the firm has in recent years been hit by reliability issues.



Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi

Published: 2006/04/21 09:36:24 GMT

© BBC MMVI

[oggs]

Its been all over PH recently

[Don]

oggs said:

Its been all over PH recently

And very sad too. I hope it isn't the precursor to a premature and unwarranted demise.

I wonder if other sports car manufacturer's are suffering?

I also wonder if TVR have suffered from taking their cars upmarket at a time when the volume from other sports car manufacturers has been at the cheaper end.

Porsche sell a lot of Boxsters in comparison to their other models, I believe.

Shame TVR couldn't come out with a £28-32K stomper everyone wanted.

[Big Al.]

Thread already running here.
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=262584&f=13&h=0