So, how to fix TVR
Discussion
In light of the many (rightly, IMO) negative comments recently, and the howl of dismay and protest from those who feel that this is doing TVR a huge disservice and is somehow to blame for its current fortunes (perhaps imagined), I have decided to launch this new topic.
Forget what NS is doing. Just forget it. Suppose you were in charge of TVR. What would you do to fix it? Also suppose that you had the funds, or the ability to raise the funds, for whatever project(s) you thought appropriate. So, money is not really an issue, except that in 5 years, if you are not profitable, you will lose the factory and your reputation.
Couple more rules - no general statements. We all know that costs have to be reduced and profits have to be raised. HOW is the operative words. Excruciating detail is ok.
I really feel that with all the common sense and financial/managerial/technical expertise on this forum, we could get some real gems.
Here are some of my ideas:
1. Move to a new facility. Within England. Not necessarily in the Blackpool vicinity. My criteria would be to have a test track available 24/7, and close proximity to some key suppliers.
2. Focus on branding. TVR are known for performance and interior and exterior styling. That's it. Identify some key elements and make them part of the TVR product line.
3. Source the engine from a specialist manufacturer in the USA, or rework a crate motor from the big companies.
4. Beef up customer relations. More people to handle the customers, more people to fix/prevent the problems. Support for regional clubs.
5. A *huge* IT push to modernise. This means lots of electronic communications with parties like dealers, customers, suppliers, etc. It will cost virtually nothing, and, as long as the messages do get a response, will work wonders for relationship building.
6. Get closer to key parties. Involve the customers in focus groups. Appoint a dealer advocate. Listen to suppliers. Listen to employees/unions. Arrive at decisions together, not contentiously. Go Japanese, go American, whatever, but please get rid of the ancient British/Russian/Chinese attitude of us vs. them/mgt. vs. workers.
7. Have a dealer council. Help them. Support them. After TVR makes a good product, it needs to make it easy to sell--so keep the sellers happy. Have an end to end approach. The dealer is in the middle. He needs to be catered to as well. One end is the racing/development/design program. The other end is the resale program. In between are manufacturing, sales, marketing, and customer support. All of these need to be optimised/implemented if they don't exist.
8. Have a resale certification program. This will instill confidence in the used cars, keep residuals up, and help the brand. It will also bring in money and people into showrooms/factories.
9. Think of racing as a key component of development. A one-make series program and a light Le Mans effort are the perfect ways to improve the product. Involve the racers in focus groups. Support them. It won't take much. TVR fans are among the most loyal in the world. Just acknowledge and appreciate this and you have won the battle.
10. Absolutely, positively, stop being reactionary. Lay down the 5 year plan, and then focus on that. All this orgasmic living and furniture and vodka and boat and motorcycle talk is completely useless. Ditch it immediately, and ditch going after other market segments. Conduct the analyses to see what the costs and revenues/turnovers need to be for TVR's established niche, small, affordable, gorgeous sports cars that are a step above kit cars. No chassis only crap (how do you establish a brand with that?), no SUVs, no micro cars, no flights of fancy. Just good expected products.
11. Modernise the product. Safety, emissions, common parts, etc.
12. Identify key world markets, and start the process for launching the cars in those products properly. Start the movie talks. Start the overseas plant talks. Start dealer talks. Start warranty talks. Start insurance talks. Start figuring out how to make the cars for those markets ie. bigger seats for fat Americans, rainproofing the convertibles, traction control and ABS systems where required, airbags, etc., etc.
13. Hire some efficiency experts and redo the mfg. line and time and motion studies to make the cars cheaper. Get new suppliers, buy in bigger quantities, whatever. Just reduce those costs so that TVRs can be sold for no more than 30,000 pounds, bare bones, or 35,000 fully kitted.
Without spreadsheets and powerpoint, I know we can only have a limited discussion, but please give it your best (constructive) shot.
Looking forward to the replies.
>> Edited by orgasmicliving!! on Wednesday 26th April 16:41
Forget what NS is doing. Just forget it. Suppose you were in charge of TVR. What would you do to fix it? Also suppose that you had the funds, or the ability to raise the funds, for whatever project(s) you thought appropriate. So, money is not really an issue, except that in 5 years, if you are not profitable, you will lose the factory and your reputation.
Couple more rules - no general statements. We all know that costs have to be reduced and profits have to be raised. HOW is the operative words. Excruciating detail is ok.
I really feel that with all the common sense and financial/managerial/technical expertise on this forum, we could get some real gems.
Here are some of my ideas:
1. Move to a new facility. Within England. Not necessarily in the Blackpool vicinity. My criteria would be to have a test track available 24/7, and close proximity to some key suppliers.
2. Focus on branding. TVR are known for performance and interior and exterior styling. That's it. Identify some key elements and make them part of the TVR product line.
3. Source the engine from a specialist manufacturer in the USA, or rework a crate motor from the big companies.
4. Beef up customer relations. More people to handle the customers, more people to fix/prevent the problems. Support for regional clubs.
5. A *huge* IT push to modernise. This means lots of electronic communications with parties like dealers, customers, suppliers, etc. It will cost virtually nothing, and, as long as the messages do get a response, will work wonders for relationship building.
6. Get closer to key parties. Involve the customers in focus groups. Appoint a dealer advocate. Listen to suppliers. Listen to employees/unions. Arrive at decisions together, not contentiously. Go Japanese, go American, whatever, but please get rid of the ancient British/Russian/Chinese attitude of us vs. them/mgt. vs. workers.
7. Have a dealer council. Help them. Support them. After TVR makes a good product, it needs to make it easy to sell--so keep the sellers happy. Have an end to end approach. The dealer is in the middle. He needs to be catered to as well. One end is the racing/development/design program. The other end is the resale program. In between are manufacturing, sales, marketing, and customer support. All of these need to be optimised/implemented if they don't exist.
8. Have a resale certification program. This will instill confidence in the used cars, keep residuals up, and help the brand. It will also bring in money and people into showrooms/factories.
9. Think of racing as a key component of development. A one-make series program and a light Le Mans effort are the perfect ways to improve the product. Involve the racers in focus groups. Support them. It won't take much. TVR fans are among the most loyal in the world. Just acknowledge and appreciate this and you have won the battle.
10. Absolutely, positively, stop being reactionary. Lay down the 5 year plan, and then focus on that. All this orgasmic living and furniture and vodka and boat and motorcycle talk is completely useless. Ditch it immediately, and ditch going after other market segments. Conduct the analyses to see what the costs and revenues/turnovers need to be for TVR's established niche, small, affordable, gorgeous sports cars that are a step above kit cars. No chassis only crap (how do you establish a brand with that?), no SUVs, no micro cars, no flights of fancy. Just good expected products.
11. Modernise the product. Safety, emissions, common parts, etc.
12. Identify key world markets, and start the process for launching the cars in those products properly. Start the movie talks. Start the overseas plant talks. Start dealer talks. Start warranty talks. Start insurance talks. Start figuring out how to make the cars for those markets ie. bigger seats for fat Americans, rainproofing the convertibles, traction control and ABS systems where required, airbags, etc., etc.
13. Hire some efficiency experts and redo the mfg. line and time and motion studies to make the cars cheaper. Get new suppliers, buy in bigger quantities, whatever. Just reduce those costs so that TVRs can be sold for no more than 30,000 pounds, bare bones, or 35,000 fully kitted.
Without spreadsheets and powerpoint, I know we can only have a limited discussion, but please give it your best (constructive) shot.
Looking forward to the replies.
>> Edited by orgasmicliving!! on Wednesday 26th April 16:41
Also
- A quality merchandising program. This really could be a decent source of income if done right. And it will do wonders for brand building to see a sea of purple, TVR-branded parkas, t-shirts, tracksuits, overalls, umbrellas, etc., at motorsport and launch and club events.
Limited runs of products tied in to regional/national/international events (collectible stuff).
- A quality merchandising program. This really could be a decent source of income if done right. And it will do wonders for brand building to see a sea of purple, TVR-branded parkas, t-shirts, tracksuits, overalls, umbrellas, etc., at motorsport and launch and club events.
Limited runs of products tied in to regional/national/international events (collectible stuff).
orgasmicliving!! said:
ncs,
please don't hold back from sharing any other details of your *incredibly* interesting life.
thanks.
Just read my profile - it tells you all you need to know, unlike yours
I dont disagree with much of whay you've posted, its just that there have been many threads on these forums closed over the last week & redirected to the one that has a 'sticky' on the top of the forum.
The fact that nobody else has replied in over two hours shows that with nearly 20 pages on the other thread perhaps people feel untill TVR do or say something everything else is just speculation, so why bother?
Im not having a dig at you, living in Gaza as you do life must be tough enough already.
Nick
>> Edited by ncs on Wednesday 26th April 18:52
I did read your profile. It led me to conclude that you could have either contributed something useful, or refrained from making your completely useless comments. Why post that you won't be reading this? And what makes you think that I agree with you that this thread is like every other thread? There are some differences, IMO, but they are nuanced and I really don't want to debate them and sidetrack the original topic. However, if everyone feels that I am duplicating other threads, then fine, please have Dave delete or lock this thread.
As for no replies in two hours, I am well aware of the time difference, and that a lot of people use pistonheads at work. Now that the working day is over in the UK (and has been for over two hours), I don't really expect much in the way of replies until tomorrow, unless LA or Jimbeaux choose to chime in.
The topic itself is a bit more involved. Most posts on pistonheads are a quick quip or paragraph or two at most. So, I didn't really expect a 10-page thread to begin with. But, if Dave feels that I am really duplicating some other threads, then maybe he can delete or lock this thread. I did think it was different, but I am willing to submit to an unbiased view (Dave's only, mind, not yours).
Finally, I may have valid reasons for remaining anonymous...but I may be wrong about that too.
>> Edited by orgasmicliving!! on Wednesday 26th April 20:03
As for no replies in two hours, I am well aware of the time difference, and that a lot of people use pistonheads at work. Now that the working day is over in the UK (and has been for over two hours), I don't really expect much in the way of replies until tomorrow, unless LA or Jimbeaux choose to chime in.
The topic itself is a bit more involved. Most posts on pistonheads are a quick quip or paragraph or two at most. So, I didn't really expect a 10-page thread to begin with. But, if Dave feels that I am really duplicating some other threads, then maybe he can delete or lock this thread. I did think it was different, but I am willing to submit to an unbiased view (Dave's only, mind, not yours).
Finally, I may have valid reasons for remaining anonymous...but I may be wrong about that too.
>> Edited by orgasmicliving!! on Wednesday 26th April 20:03
I can't be bothered to argue anymore, but I'll write this just in case it makes a difference: -
TVR's major hurdles: -
1) Expensive bespoke engine. Most expensive part of the car. Buy in a Chevy V8 instead of the S6.
2) TVR don't have European type approval, something made tripley harder to get as they use the S6. Again buy in an approved off the shelf engine that meets EU4 emission controls.
3) TVR can't afford the risk of product liability by selling in the states. This will never happen, they are simply too small so forget about it.
4) The cars wouldn't meet N. American emission standards (especially Californian) anyway with a S6 engine. Again, buy in an off the shelf American V8.
5) Start talking to the TVRCC and to Pistonheads to find out what customers actually want.
6) Accept that BMW, Porsche, Lotus etc now all sell very good sports cars in the £<50k bracket then work out how to differentiate the product further.
7) Then market it!
8) Regain thunder stolen by other low volume manufacturers e.g. Noble, Ariel.
9) Be realistic about press cars, e.g don't send a fully loaded flip painted tuscan to a performance group test with cars costing thousands of pounds less.
10) Cut out the dead wood but treat the skilled workers with the respect they deserve.
Lastly as TVR fans and owners we can all help. Instead of debating it to death on here, get the TVR out the garage and drive it to work roof off, exhausts blaring. Show the world how fantastic the cars are and help to raise the brand image by doing what TVRs do best. Being flash and antisocial!
Make sure you attend the regional TVRCC meets and support the club.
TVR's major hurdles: -
1) Expensive bespoke engine. Most expensive part of the car. Buy in a Chevy V8 instead of the S6.
2) TVR don't have European type approval, something made tripley harder to get as they use the S6. Again buy in an approved off the shelf engine that meets EU4 emission controls.
3) TVR can't afford the risk of product liability by selling in the states. This will never happen, they are simply too small so forget about it.
4) The cars wouldn't meet N. American emission standards (especially Californian) anyway with a S6 engine. Again, buy in an off the shelf American V8.
5) Start talking to the TVRCC and to Pistonheads to find out what customers actually want.
6) Accept that BMW, Porsche, Lotus etc now all sell very good sports cars in the £<50k bracket then work out how to differentiate the product further.
7) Then market it!
8) Regain thunder stolen by other low volume manufacturers e.g. Noble, Ariel.
9) Be realistic about press cars, e.g don't send a fully loaded flip painted tuscan to a performance group test with cars costing thousands of pounds less.
10) Cut out the dead wood but treat the skilled workers with the respect they deserve.
Lastly as TVR fans and owners we can all help. Instead of debating it to death on here, get the TVR out the garage and drive it to work roof off, exhausts blaring. Show the world how fantastic the cars are and help to raise the brand image by doing what TVRs do best. Being flash and antisocial!
Make sure you attend the regional TVRCC meets and support the club.
orgasmicliving!! said:
In light of the many (rightly, IMO) negative comments recently, and the howl of dismay and protest from those who feel that this is doing TVR a huge disservice and is somehow to blame for its current fortunes (perhaps imagined), I have decided to launch this new topic.
Forget what NS is doing. Just forget it. Suppose you were in charge of TVR. What would you do to fix it? Also suppose that you had the funds, or the ability to raise the funds, for whatever project(s) you thought appropriate. So, money is not really an issue, except that in 5 years, if you are not profitable, you will lose the factory and your reputation.
Couple more rules - no general statements. We all know that costs have to be reduced and profits have to be raised. HOW is the operative words. Excruciating detail is ok.
I really feel that with all the common sense and financial/managerial/technical expertise on this forum, we could get some real gems.
Here are some of my ideas:
1. Move to a new facility. Within England. Not necessarily in the Blackpool vicinity. My criteria would be to have a test track available 24/7, and close proximity to some key suppliers.
2. Focus on branding. TVR are known for performance and interior and exterior styling. That's it. Identify some key elements and make them part of the TVR product line.
3. Source the engine from a specialist manufacturer in the USA, or rework a crate motor from the big companies.
4. Beef up customer relations. More people to handle the customers, more people to fix/prevent the problems. Support for regional clubs.
5. A *huge* IT push to modernise. This means lots of electronic communications with parties like dealers, customers, suppliers, etc. It will cost virtually nothing, and, as long as the messages do get a response, will work wonders for relationship building.
6. Get closer to key parties. Involve the customers in focus groups. Appoint a dealer advocate. Listen to suppliers. Listen to employees/unions. Arrive at decisions together, not contentiously. Go Japanese, go American, whatever, but please get rid of the ancient British/Russian/Chinese attitude of us vs. them/mgt. vs. workers.
7. Have a dealer council. Help them. Support them. After TVR makes a good product, it needs to make it easy to sell--so keep the sellers happy. Have an end to end approach. The dealer is in the middle. He needs to be catered to as well. One end is the racing/development/design program. The other end is the resale program. In between are manufacturing, sales, marketing, and customer support. All of these need to be optimised/implemented if they don't exist.
8. Have a resale certification program. This will instill confidence in the used cars, keep residuals up, and help the brand. It will also bring in money and people into showrooms/factories.
9. Think of racing as a key component of development. A one-make series program and a light Le Mans effort are the perfect ways to improve the product. Involve the racers in focus groups. Support them. It won't take much. TVR fans are among the most loyal in the world. Just acknowledge and appreciate this and you have won the battle.
10. Absolutely, positively, stop being reactionary. Lay down the 5 year plan, and then focus on that. All this orgasmic living and furniture and vodka and boat and motorcycle talk is completely useless. Ditch it immediately, and ditch going after other market segments. Conduct the analyses to see what the costs and revenues/turnovers need to be for TVR's established niche, small, affordable, gorgeous sports cars that are a step above kit cars. No chassis only crap (how do you establish a brand with that?), no SUVs, no micro cars, no flights of fancy. Just good expected products.
11. Modernise the product. Safety, emissions, common parts, etc.
12. Identify key world markets, and start the process for launching the cars in those products properly. Start the movie talks. Start the overseas plant talks. Start dealer talks. Start warranty talks. Start insurance talks. Start figuring out how to make the cars for those markets ie. bigger seats for fat Americans, rainproofing the convertibles, traction control and ABS systems where required, airbags, etc., etc.
13. Hire some efficiency experts and redo the mfg. line and time and motion studies to make the cars cheaper. Get new suppliers, buy in bigger quantities, whatever. Just reduce those costs so that TVRs can be sold for no more than 30,000 pounds, bare bones, or 35,000 fully kitted.
Without spreadsheets and powerpoint, I know we can only have a limited discussion, but please give it your best (constructive) shot.
Looking forward to the replies.
>> Edited by orgasmicliving!! on Wednesday 26th April 16:41
All excellent ideas suggestions..
Howver their is a danger of --- How to make a small fortune out of a car company? - Start with a large fortune !!!!
Basic business plan says, how much will it all cost, how much cash flow will it generate.
how long to pay back all of the costs (plus interest) before moving into profit...
MANY, Many years.. So someone with dep pockets require, PLUS knowing how to do it.
B
orgasmicliving!! said:
stuff ...
3. Source the engine from a specialist manufacturer in the USA, or rework a crate motor from the big companies.
... more stuff
I don't know how much weight my voice should carry. I don't own a TVR. I'm unlikely to buy a TVR. I like them; I smile when I see them; but, for various reasons, they're not the car for me.
That said, there is one point that simply screams out to me and always has done.
America has a history of buying small, good sports cars with lots of grunt. From early jaguars to second world war Morgans and MGAs to Mr. Shelby's meeting with Mssrs. A. & C. through the 60's and 70's with Lotus and Triumph's TRs. There's also been a good market out there for MGBs Midgets and Spitfires. Yet, TVR manage to deny themselves access to this market.
I understand the legislative difficulties, but from what I understand the biggest obstacle is the engine. Noble have managed to get US type approval, so it's not beyond a small company to meet the requirements. Has no-one thought to obtain a Ford or General Motors power plant to put into the Blackpool Beast?
Use an american engine and generic components and you should be able to allow main dealers in America to service and repair these beasts.
Every american I've known who's seen a TVR has said exactly the same thing: 'Wow! What the hell is that? It goes how fast? It costs how much? Where can I get one?'
Can it really be so tough?
The ideas at the top of this thread really are a fast track to burning money.
1)keep the S6. TVR can't afford to change engines now and the chassis is difficult to modify to take a V8. Revise the S6 inline with the original Melling design, it'll be slightly smaller and slightly less powerful with a pre-warm-up rev limiter but it will stay together longer than 10k miles.
2)Cut down the range. Make one or two car types well that don't compete with each other. I'd suggest the tuscan and reintroducing the Cerbera as some people liked those extra seats. The current website lists five 2 seater alternatives!
3)Look at how Morgan build the Aero8 and learn something. Possibly start making some of the panels out of aluminium.
4) In the longer term look at reintroducing a V8. Make it a Hemi. The hemi has a huge muscle car image in the US, more than the LS1, and it has no "only GM" or "only a Ford" marketing downside. Yes I know there's nothing wrong with these alternative sources but people do say these things about GM and Ford cars. Supercharging the S6 or a V8 would be nice.
5) Switch the chassis to a honeycombe one as on the Aero8. This will help keep the chassis acurate as it's a lot easier to make a repeatable base for a car this way. With a straight chassis and pressed alloy panels the cars might actually have the ultra small shut lines that mean quality to many customers. The suspension wil also work better if it always gets bolted to something thats tightly toleranced to the right shape on every car.
6) by all means use a test track and support racing but remember that there is no need to own one or to pay for it yourself respectively.
1)keep the S6. TVR can't afford to change engines now and the chassis is difficult to modify to take a V8. Revise the S6 inline with the original Melling design, it'll be slightly smaller and slightly less powerful with a pre-warm-up rev limiter but it will stay together longer than 10k miles.
2)Cut down the range. Make one or two car types well that don't compete with each other. I'd suggest the tuscan and reintroducing the Cerbera as some people liked those extra seats. The current website lists five 2 seater alternatives!
3)Look at how Morgan build the Aero8 and learn something. Possibly start making some of the panels out of aluminium.
4) In the longer term look at reintroducing a V8. Make it a Hemi. The hemi has a huge muscle car image in the US, more than the LS1, and it has no "only GM" or "only a Ford" marketing downside. Yes I know there's nothing wrong with these alternative sources but people do say these things about GM and Ford cars. Supercharging the S6 or a V8 would be nice.
5) Switch the chassis to a honeycombe one as on the Aero8. This will help keep the chassis acurate as it's a lot easier to make a repeatable base for a car this way. With a straight chassis and pressed alloy panels the cars might actually have the ultra small shut lines that mean quality to many customers. The suspension wil also work better if it always gets bolted to something thats tightly toleranced to the right shape on every car.
6) by all means use a test track and support racing but remember that there is no need to own one or to pay for it yourself respectively.
Al 450 said:
I can't be bothered to argue anymore, but I'll write this just in case it makes a difference: -
Bang on the money !
TVR's major hurdles: -
1) Expensive bespoke engine. Most expensive part of the car. Buy in a Chevy V8 instead of the S6.
2) TVR don't have European type approval, something made tripley harder to get as they use the S6. Again buy in an approved off the shelf engine that meets EU4 emission controls.
3) TVR can't afford the risk of product liability by selling in the states. This will never happen, they are simply too small so forget about it.
4) The cars wouldn't meet N. American emission standards (especially Californian) anyway with a S6 engine. Again, buy in an off the shelf American V8.
5) Start talking to the TVRCC and to Pistonheads to find out what customers actually want.
6) Accept that BMW, Porsche, Lotus etc now all sell very good sports cars in the £<50k bracket then work out how to differentiate the product further.
7) Then market it!
8) Regain thunder stolen by other low volume manufacturers e.g. Noble, Ariel.
9) Be realistic about press cars, e.g don't send a fully loaded flip painted tuscan to a performance group test with cars costing thousands of pounds less.
10) Cut out the dead wood but treat the skilled workers with the respect they deserve.
Lastly as TVR fans and owners we can all help. Instead of debating it to death on here, get the TVR out the garage and drive it to work roof off, exhausts blaring. Show the world how fantastic the cars are and help to raise the brand image by doing what TVRs do best. Being flash and antisocial!
Make sure you attend the regional TVRCC meets and support the club.
TVR with 6.0lt Chevy out of the Manaro VXR tweeked !! Spot on !!.
>> Edited by Rum Runner on Wednesday 26th April 23:01
orgasmicliving!! said:What about a qualified workforce? Wouldn't you locate somewhere to find good people?
Here are some of my ideas:
1. Move to a new facility. Within England. Not necessarily in the Blackpool vicinity. My criteria would be to have a test track available 24/7, and close proximity to some key suppliers.
A test track available for 24/7 means TVR is the only user. Wouldn't there be more important investments?
As for the close proximity to some key suppliers - what happens when their prices are not right anymore, or they can't supply the product I need? I want to benefit from the free market economy, which means I don't make my company dependent from suppliers that are close to my factory. I'd make sure to be easily accessed by logistics companies.
Later, when TVR becomes bigger, I'd consider a factory where suppliers have system responsibilty and fit parts on their own on the TVR production line.
TVR can't afford to change engines, chassis can't take a v8 my arse. One of the main factors in TVRs remaining GRP on steel tube backbone for 60 years is the fact that changes can be made easily. I recon that the motorshow cars will showcase new engines. Probably Ford v6 or the new Volvo v8 in the s80. Orgasmicliving talks a lot of sense imo and I'm absolutey gutted that I did'nt think of that nikname. Pure genius, makes me think of stunning British sports cars with outrageous performance. And cheap porn films.
I am sick to death of hearing about engine changes and making an entry car for £30,000. This is the last thing TVR needs to do. Using a bought in engine will only strengthening peoples perception of TVR being nothing more than a kit car and it is this image it must lose if it is to appeal to the mainstream which it must do to become profitable.
At the same time producing a car for £30K would be death, if they cannot get the reliability and quality right now with car costing £40K - £50K what hope would they have.
I have spoken to Autocraft / TVR craft about the speed six engine and I believe in partnership with Al Melling (this guy knows a thing or two about engines and correctly implemented the speed six has potential to be a great engine) they have developed a package to make the engine bullet proof, they can also with the right approach get the engine through both euro 4 and US emssions. TVR's spec of the speed 6 has been modified from the orignal melling design in order to try and keep costs down by utilising same components between the V8 & S6 even though the two engines are very different and were not developed from each other.
TVR must design a two car range that can sell in every market, it has the right heritage to do this properly and it must if it is to distance itself from the new pretenders trying to play in their space the likes of Marcos & Noble whose cars retail for £50K+.
Lets all get real £30K for the performance, reliability, qulaity and individuality we desire from TVR is unrealistic. It is not a track day special but a well priced GT that goies like shit off a shovel and leaves the rest behind even the lambos.
At the same time producing a car for £30K would be death, if they cannot get the reliability and quality right now with car costing £40K - £50K what hope would they have.
I have spoken to Autocraft / TVR craft about the speed six engine and I believe in partnership with Al Melling (this guy knows a thing or two about engines and correctly implemented the speed six has potential to be a great engine) they have developed a package to make the engine bullet proof, they can also with the right approach get the engine through both euro 4 and US emssions. TVR's spec of the speed 6 has been modified from the orignal melling design in order to try and keep costs down by utilising same components between the V8 & S6 even though the two engines are very different and were not developed from each other.
TVR must design a two car range that can sell in every market, it has the right heritage to do this properly and it must if it is to distance itself from the new pretenders trying to play in their space the likes of Marcos & Noble whose cars retail for £50K+.
Lets all get real £30K for the performance, reliability, qulaity and individuality we desire from TVR is unrealistic. It is not a track day special but a well priced GT that goies like shit off a shovel and leaves the rest behind even the lambos.
Forget entry cars, get the already fantastic Sagaris and make it into an absolute MONSTER.
Throw in the engine from the new Z06 Corvette (500bhp/similar torque) - then watch the order books fill up.
TVR are making fantastic cars atm, no doubt about it - but they need something to really scare the supercars right now IMHO.
Throw in the engine from the new Z06 Corvette (500bhp/similar torque) - then watch the order books fill up.
TVR are making fantastic cars atm, no doubt about it - but they need something to really scare the supercars right now IMHO.
Isnt the extended model range so they dont have to type aprove/crash test and all that entails?
Personaly I atribute almost all their sales problems down to the S6, I know its popular/unpopular to say it round here but look at noble, is it coincidence that they started the m12 success story at a time when TVR moved over to the S6 (ish).
TVR to me is light, small 2 seater car with lots of power. Not a superlight caterham type but monster MX5 sized/weightet car. Personaly I see more of what I want in marcos than TVR now.
Personaly I atribute almost all their sales problems down to the S6, I know its popular/unpopular to say it round here but look at noble, is it coincidence that they started the m12 success story at a time when TVR moved over to the S6 (ish).
TVR to me is light, small 2 seater car with lots of power. Not a superlight caterham type but monster MX5 sized/weightet car. Personaly I see more of what I want in marcos than TVR now.
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