Re : TVR appoints new CEO; laments factory issues

[tertius]

911gary said:

I think the reason is they were stalling for time as under EU law with the Welsh government involved the work had to be put out to EU wide tender,I think they will crack on now after Friday,that said Ive met Les inLe Mans a few years back love the story love the mustang engine, love what hes done for TVR god knows Ive had most models "but" Im just not sure about the new Griff its visually underwhelming for me sorry Les.

The OJEU tender process completed absolutely ages ago, at least 18 months back - it has nothing to do with it, plus quite apart from anything else we are still adhering to it for the foreseeable future Brexit or no.

[anonymous-user]

Monkeylegend said:

unsprung said:

This has little to do with the Welsh government or EU procurement procedure or a leaky old roof. That the august voice of the BBC now appears to be lending credence to some of those things is a bit astonishing.

The problem has always been that they, team TVR, have never thought things through, never had sufficient funds. Despite this, they made claims, and allowed claims to be made on their behalf, that were boastful or, some might say, fraudulent. Examples below.

unsprung said:

ate one too said:

From Autocar 21st January 2016

Some highlights from that article seem now outrageous and utter mumbo jumbo:

. . . a) "Last year, TVR officials admitted the firm has already sold out its allocation of production cars for 2017."

. . . b) "In October of last year, the company fired up its new Cosworth V8 engine for the first time."

. . . c) "John Chasey, TVR’s operations director, has said that any orders now placed will not be delivered until 2018."

. . . d) "Edgar said: 'This a heart-warming situation we find ourselves in. We are mindful that we have taken deposits from customers who have not yet seen official pictures of the car. We look forward to revealing more details soon, and to all our customers who have shown their faith I can promise that the new car will exceed expectations in every way.' Interested owners were able to place a £5000 deposit for the new model."

. . . e) "...the new TVR has been designed by engineering guru Gordon Murray and will be powered by a unique, hugely powerful Cosworth V8 engine and backed by an ambitious and well-funded ownership team."

. . . f) "...a 10-year plan that will put at least four new TVRs on the road from 2017."

In addition also the claim that they are fully funded and here to stay. So far only one of those claims appears to survive scrutiny, they are still here. But for how long.

Plus the claim about having a new small manufacturing site where they were in the process of moving to while the factory got sorted back in 2018

[Welshbeef]

Anyone here put a deposit down and now feeling squeaky bum time....

Hope no one loses out in this but it’s a possibility

[Tuna]

Welshbeef said:

Anyone here put a deposit down and now feeling squeaky bum time....

Hope no one loses out in this but it’s a possibility

If you put a deposit down that early in the process, you should have done it with the expectation you might never see it again.

Whilst I do hope they sort this out (and do wonder slightly if, post Brexit, there's a way to sort the factory issue out more directly), I don't think anyone can get too precious about their deposit.

[anonymous-user]

Tuna said:

Well that seals it. If you're against it, I'll go and put a deposit down.

Tuna said:

I don't think anyone can get too precious about their deposit.

No confusion there, then.

[jayemm89]

So erm quick question- what was the idea of taking the Griff out to London last week?

It has appeared on every social media page... except TVR's!

[Digga]

jayemm89 said:

So erm quick question- what was the idea of taking the Griff out to London last week?

It has appeared on every social media page... except TVR's!

I guess the cynical answer is funding; that's where the money is.

[Tuna]

rockin said:

Tuna said:

Well that seals it. If you're against it, I'll go and put a deposit down.

Tuna said:

I don't think anyone can get too precious about their deposit.

No confusion there, then.

Does more than one thought in your head at the same time confuse you?

[DonkeyApple]

jayemm89 said:

So erm quick question- what was the idea of taking the Griff out to London last week?

It has appeared on every social media page... except TVR's!

Let’s say that if you lived in London and the TVR that had been in front of you for two years finally got its road registration? I think most of us would take it for a little potter and if we were planning on selling cars then a little deviation to the most popular place to drive at 5mph to impress toddlers seems sensible.

I don’t get the TVR social media pages. I’d just bin them or do it very properly as I don’t think there is any halfway house with social media.

[PAUL500]

I see that Norton is the latest retro "phoenix from the flames" brand to go into administration.

Whilst its a lovely idea to try to resurrect old names, they simply have nothing to to with the vehicles of the past, The original TVR has a loyal but ageing band of followers, the rest of the car buying world is rapidly forgetting they ever existed, only a current manufacturer is the real source of potential funding for this venture, who need a classic name tag in their line up, but given its mainly a Ford based product I don't see any of them taking up the mantle either.

[snuffy]

PAUL500 said:

Whilst its a lovely idea to try to resurrect old names, they simply have nothing to to with the vehicles of the past, e any of them taking up the mantle either.

I think you have hit the nail on the head with so much force that the head and the nail have been smashed into next week.

[DonkeyApple]

snuffy said:

PAUL500 said:

Whilst its a lovely idea to try to resurrect old names, they simply have nothing to to with the vehicles of the past, e any of them taking up the mantle either.

I think you have hit the nail on the head with so much force that the head and the nail have been smashed into next week.

I’d agree. We all still have the older cars which we love but any new venture has to make the transition to the current and that means trying to marry as much smelly V8 goodness with the absolute basics of what is expected from a car by today’s buyers. The past is the past. We can still enjoy the past through our cars but the next generation is the future and it must be suitable for the very different times that we live in.

We should be grateful that the resurrection pays so much homage to a world that is dead and buried. But then that’s the double edged sword which has prevented primary institutions from rushing in to fund the project.

Frankly, the greatest accolade the new TVR could have is that the new money, prime backers don’t understand what TVR is about and are too scared to get involved. Exactly as it should be for a true TVR product.

[ate one too]

This is a car factory?



This is a car factory.

[dynosoar]

Bricklin?

[vaud]

Sadly, though pragmatically, this project is only going one way.

[CO2000]

Back to Blackpool?

How's the sheds there, better condition roofwise?

Or is it now a Persimmon housing estate or similar?

[anonymous-user]

DonkeyApple said:

Frankly, the greatest accolade the new TVR could have is that the new money, prime backers don’t understand what TVR is about and are too scared to get involved. Exactly as it should be for a true TVR product.

Let's get back to basics,

• Who's got a big, expensive car factory that hardly builds any cars? - Lotus

• Who's got a design for a new car and, allegedly, lots of deposits in the bank? - TVR

Must be a marriage made in heaven. Or perhaps hell....

[Monkeylegend]

LOTVRS, sounds good.

[A1VDY]

https://www.sheds.co.uk/garden-sheds.html

[vaud]

rockin said:

Let's get back to basics,

• Who's got a big, expensive car factory that hardly builds any cars? - Lotus

• Who's got a design for a new car and, allegedly, lots of deposits in the bank? - TVR

Must be a marriage made in heaven. Or perhaps hell....

Indeed. If it was such a good plan / car... why not do a deal with Lotus or Ginetta for initial runs? They at least have establish facilities, QA and supply chain. OK, lots of tooling needed but you could make it time limited or do it via a JV.