Westfield in administration

[andy97]

Not Caterham, I know, but thought some might be interested. Maybe some have owned a Westfield in the past. Anyway I see reports that Westfield went into administration today.Sad news for those affected, and maybe a indicator of issues for the wider “specialist car market”?

[sociopath]

I'm going to guess, with absolutely no evidence, that they over extended themselves with the Chesil EV development.

[Equus]

sociopath said:

I'm going to guess, with absolutely no evidence, that they over extended themselves with the Chesil EV development.

If I had to guess, it'd be that the autonomous vehicles part of the business dragged them under: it had required massive investment compared to knocking out kit cars and at present the market serves mainly people movement at large-scale venues (the Olympics, major exhibition centres, visitor attractions, airports etc.).

Covid fked that right up.

The car side of the business lost its way when Chris Smith left, unfortunately.

[Drooles]

What a shame. They’ve made some interesting cars in their time and always seemed like a worthy alternative to a Caterham

[Wacky Racer]

Having built a Westfield from scratch in 1990, very sorry to hear this, and also the recent death of Chris Smith, founder of the company, (He named it Westfield because that was the name of his house)

Hopefully the company will survive in some form.

[BertBert]

I wonder if there's anything like a viable kit car business to salvage?

[take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey]

How sad... Loved mine.

[Eric Mc]

Sad to hear. I've been watching some UK hillclimb videos on You Tube recently and Westfields are very prominent (even more than Caterhams).

[Equus]

BertBert said:

I wonder if there's anything like a viable kit car business to salvage?

The only two companies that seem to be doing well in this sector of the market at the moment (and I suspect have been manufacturing more kits than Westfield for some time) are GBS and MK Sportscars.

I can't see either of them being interested in the mainstream (Seven-style) Westfield models as they are too close to their own products to be worthwhile.

The Westfieild XI is a lovely thing and is one of a very few kit cars (not even Caterham can manage it) that is worth more finished than it costs an amateur to build. But it sails very close to the wind in terms of road legality and the dodges required to get it through IVA, so it's quite a risky proposition to build a business on, in case DVLA/Government decides to tighten up on post-IVA modifications.

[Pflanzgarten]

Must admit, an XI has always been a dream build for me (even though I’d never get the time). A real shame.

[Pistom]

I went to Westfield back when they were selling off their GTM unwanted items to look at a Spyder which was the biggest pile of ste I'd ever seen.

They didn't seem to be doing much, workshop seemed pretty quiet.

It's a shame that the business has gone this way.

Another specialist car company hitting the dust.

[Monkeylegend]

Unless TVR take the factory over and expand their product range.

[BertBert]

I was thinking more of a Bert-ish retirement project!

[Murph7355]

Sad to see it go...

The FW400 was interesting. The XI lovely. And the SEight probably sealed my interest in this type of car (albeit never went further than intrigue).

That said, I always though their 7-type cars jarred and looked a bit "off". Appreciate it's mostly snobbery on my part, but I wouldn't have had one over a Caterham.