What are the top 10 kit-car makers in Britain?
Discussion
...of course, if youve never driven one, it dont matter, as nor have i, so i just go by how good look overall :)
btw- this list excludes those makers engaged in motorsport, as i'm just asking about normal road-going cars, not barely-legal road cars like ultima etc.
my top 10 -
1.Phantom, 2.Chesil, 3.Fisher, 4.Sylvia, 5.GTM, 6.Quantum, 7.Marlin, 8.Vemac, 9.Ginneta, 10.Dakar Cars.
ps- i've excluded companies that just remake other peoples classic designs, eg- tiger, dax, caterham, westfield, hawk, as i moreover admire original design than merely copying lotus sevens an ac cobra's :(
Caterham 
No doubt about that one. Very good car. Good engineering underneath too. Unlike most spaceframes this one needs no apologies.
The next place is:
Ultima
Followed by:
GTM (Libra)
Now it gets harder. I've no idea what the Phantom looks like under the skin but it looks very nice on the outside. The Marlin 5Exi looks good too and then there is Dax so that gives us:
Phantom
Marlin
Dax
No doubt about that one. Very good car. Good engineering underneath too. Unlike most spaceframes this one needs no apologies.
The next place is:
Ultima
Followed by:
GTM (Libra)
Now it gets harder. I've no idea what the Phantom looks like under the skin but it looks very nice on the outside. The Marlin 5Exi looks good too and then there is Dax so that gives us:
Phantom
Marlin
Dax
yeh, if you want to pay over the odds just to say you 'have racing heritage' 
Can we clarify the question?
Are you asking for the top 10 kit cars, or the top ten most profitable manufacturers?
IMO there are only about 3 - 4 companies that produce a well built car that is anyway comparable to a production tin box that are also prospering as a company:
Caterham
Westfield
GTM
Ultima
A few other companies produce a racer for the road, which is a good car etc, but without the same quality.
There are also a few companies that on the face of it look successful . . .
And others that are making good money with cars that could be better.
I'm sure many will either agree or disagree with my comments.
Are you asking for the top 10 kit cars, or the top ten most profitable manufacturers?
IMO there are only about 3 - 4 companies that produce a well built car that is anyway comparable to a production tin box that are also prospering as a company:
Caterham
Westfield
GTM
Ultima
A few other companies produce a racer for the road, which is a good car etc, but without the same quality.
There are also a few companies that on the face of it look successful . . .
And others that are making good money with cars that could be better.
I'm sure many will either agree or disagree with my comments.
twin40s said:
What are the top 10 kit-car makers in Britain?
hmmm,
Pretty much the top 10 british car manufacturers these days!
Pos.
Manufacturer
Models made
Est units
per annum
1st
Robin Hood Sportscars
Lightweight, 2B Plus & SuperSpec
700
2nd
Caterham Cars
Seven & CSR
592
3rd
Westfield Sports Cars
SEi range & XTR range
450
4th
MK Sportscars
Indy
200
5th
Tiger Racing
Cat, Avon, R6, B6, Super Six, Z100 & ERA
175
6th
DJ Sportscars
Tojeiro, Rush & Rush M/C
150
7th
Luego Sportscars
Viento, Velocity & Locost
120
8th
Pilgrim Cars UK Ltd
Sumo & Speedster
100
9th
Fisher Sportscars UK
Fury & Menace
80
10th
GTM Cars
Libra & Spyder
70
Sorry about the format, c'n'p from www.totalkitcar.com
Personally I'm astonished that Robinhood are No1.
IIRC over half of all Caterhams are shipped as kits. The difference is that some of the more fiddly stuff is already done for you (wiring loom, fuel tank/pipes, etc.). A Caterham can be assembled in a few days - Caterham quote something like 70 hours. IMHO the reason that a Caterham is such a good kit is that the build quality of the finished car is far less variable than a less comprehensive kit. It's pretty difficult to bu99er up a Caterham build but of course its far less of a challenge than a kit where you have to source parts and even fabricate things. You pays your money and takes your choice. Buying a second hand Caterham is, in general, less risky than buying many other second hand kits as you can be fairly sure that it has been put together properly - Caterham actually do a post build check as part of the price of the kit.
I was a bit surprised to see Robin Hood at the top of the sales chart but then again it is probably the cheapest starter kit and therefore is attractive to people on a very tight budget. Having seen the owners club at Stoneleigh kit car show, they probably get nearly as large a turnout as the L7OC.
I was a bit surprised to see Robin Hood at the top of the sales chart but then again it is probably the cheapest starter kit and therefore is attractive to people on a very tight budget. Having seen the owners club at Stoneleigh kit car show, they probably get nearly as large a turnout as the L7OC.
wacky racer said:- err.. such as !!??
..Westfield can be added to the list as they do have original designs as well as their seven clone.......
mungo said:er, i dont think Lotus would agree, or are you saying lotus copied their '7' from caterham !!!
CATERHAM.
It's not a copy, it's the real thing.
barroom_spert said:yeh - coz some kitcars that are just fitted up to be road legal so they dont need a trailer pull, even tho theyre primarily track cars all along, an thus arent too practical about town etc for real world use.
btw- this list excludes those makers engaged in motorsport, as i'm just asking about normal road-going cars, not barely-legal road cars like ultima etc.
Can you explane why Ultima is a barely legal road car?
Ex-biker said:i was talking about most successfull as kit-car makers 'only' in terms of driver praise, public image, sales, the whole deal that makes impressions etc.
Can we clarify the question?
Are you asking for the top 10 kit cars, or the top ten most profitable manufacturers?
for eg- the mg-tf maybe a fewer seller than the porsche boxter, an less in handeling than a mazda-mx5, but its appeal, image, sales, an kudos, make it a top 10 car over mundane stuff like the diahatsu copen etc.
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