RE: TVR sold to British buyer?
Friday 7th June 2013
As emotive PH stories go 'TVR - never say never' is right up there and, unsurprisingly, got quite a debate going.
TVR sold to British buyer?
"I'm out" says Smolensky as source confirms sale of TVR to a British concern
And the story developed quickly, Autocar's Steve Cropley talking to Smolenksy himself who confirmed the shocking news his interests in TVR had been sold to a British concern.
Off the back of that Dietrich Probst, source of our original story, got back in touch to 'clarify' the large number of 'probably' prefixed comments dropping hints as to what an apparently VIT-backed 'new' TVR would be like.
With Smolenksy having publicly confirmed the sale of TVR to British interests Probst clearly felt emboldened to talk more freely, telling us, "There is no longer any connection between Mr Smolenksy or any of his companies, including VIT, with TVR. Therefore I do not have any insight into their plans and what may happen next and nor will we have any say over TVR's future direction."
He went on, "The British company has not shared any of their plans with me."
Describing the information he originally supplied to us as "speculative, not factual" (about the only thing we can definitely draw from the whole affair) the one thing we do have in black and white is that, to quote Probst, "Nikolai Smolensky has sold the entirety of the TVR brand and all associated rights and assets to a British company."
Which would appear to finally draw a line under the Smolensky era at TVR. What happens in the next one remains to be seen.
Discussion
I don't see any reason a group will buy TVR without at least the intention of getting it up and running again.
Also they're not going to invest that much money without some confidence that they can achieve that goal.
Sounds promising to me.
However it'll be interesting to see if/what/when they come up with something.
I'm not sure how TVR cars will fit into the current car market, and if they will even be allowed (under legislation) to build the cars they want to build...
Also they're not going to invest that much money without some confidence that they can achieve that goal.
Sounds promising to me.
However it'll be interesting to see if/what/when they come up with something.
I'm not sure how TVR cars will fit into the current car market, and if they will even be allowed (under legislation) to build the cars they want to build...
GentlePersuasion said:
Or, just more bulls
t smoke and mirrors.
I'm not so sure this time. Russian chap is out (that can only be good news) and the brand name is back in the UK. t smoke and mirrors.If I may be controversial, I think a refreshed approach from a new company is welcomed. Put the Sagaris, Tuscan, Chim, Griffith etc to bed. They are heroes from a time past when the cars were made under PW and we deserve to keep that memory. A replication would never satisfy the TVR purists, it wouldn't be as good, and to succeed they need a new approach with everything from a cheap turbo four-pot to a lairy, sub-£70k V8 (IMO)
New TVR needs a new approach, as long as they don't want to compete against Lamborghini or Ferrari and 'keep it real' I am looking forward to the results.
gsuk1 said:
I don't see any reason a group will buy TVR without at least the intention of getting it up and running again.
Also they're not going to invest that much money without some confidence that they can achieve that goal.
Sounds promising to me.
However it'll be interesting to see if/what/when they come up with something.
I'm not sure how TVR cars will fit into the current car market, and if they will even be allowed (under legislation) to build the cars they want to build...
This.Also they're not going to invest that much money without some confidence that they can achieve that goal.
Sounds promising to me.
However it'll be interesting to see if/what/when they come up with something.
I'm not sure how TVR cars will fit into the current car market, and if they will even be allowed (under legislation) to build the cars they want to build...
It has been tried before once and look how that turned out.
I'm sure the the new owner won't make the same mistake.
GentlePersuasion said:
suffolk009 said:
Finally some good TVR news.
Or, just more bullst smoke and mirrors.
If the former then it does look like the new owner has two things going for him. Firstly he has a track record in business. And secondly it looks like he isn't part of the gang of TVR clingers on businesses that have been bickering with each other and bending over to be favour of the quarter of NS.
Now, as TVR is now a Southern company maybe all those Chim owners will finally get a TVR which has cup holders and heated seats.
On a serious note, if a car does arrive and it isn't a kit car then we all know it is going to have a high price point. As such, to attract enough people in that price bracket one wonders over a few specs. First of all I doubt an LS could be used. It would be a smart engineering choice but snobbery comes into play. So I reckon it'll be something like a Jag AJ.
It'll have to have modern electronics to run the engine and this means the way is paved for traction control and a few other modern bits and bobs that PW tried to fit but couldn't get to work for the price needed.
And then there is the gearbox. Manual seems on the surface to be obvious bit there has to be an argument for a nice paddle shift system.
Styling is a given. It does need to be a bit bonkers.
Handling? Has to surpass previous TVRs. TVR got gteT handling out of the Typhon by giving it a rigid floor and shell all bonded into the frame. Plus, redesigning the front geometry so the engine could sit lower but this was far too costly. I suspect you'd need to use a chassis of a different nature than Tivs of old. Especially as any new car will need to target the plus 500bhp range.
Or, they could fulfil the standard PH dream and build £100k cars and sell them for £25k with a £30k cash back deal.
JonRB said:
The massive interest generated here on PH by this news suggests that the name, and image, still counts for a lot.
And although the moulds and jigs are gone, they can be reverse-engineered.
Don't confuse internet geekery, arm chair experts, school children and rose-tinted spec-wearing TVR lovers with enough commercial goodwill to bankroll a business on.And although the moulds and jigs are gone, they can be reverse-engineered.
Are there genuine enthusiasts on PH, yes. Are there enough to sustain a green-field TVR start up, unlikely.
Making cars, in small volume, is hugely expensive and whilst it would be great to see TVR back in fine fettle, I'd like to see the business case for it before rejoicing.
As a massive TVR fan who even spent a few weeks working there, I've been wanting to put a few TVR myths to bed so this seems like a good place.
Smolenski isn't an idiot. I was told whilst I was there he bought a company that the "lovable" Peter Wheeler was taking £9m a year home from in the years before he left (in a company producing ~12 cars a week!), then Nikolai tried to streamline processes, cut losses, improve quality and then when he could no longer justify paying the massive rent that Wheeler demanded for the lease of the TVR property, decided to move out of Blackpool. Sorry to say they never moved in anywhere and he seemingly never cared too much to try harder.
Its clear that TVRs are not the best built but, as all the owner's comments I've read on here ratify, if you are willing to put the time, effort and money into them, not much can make a petrol head happier...
If some people in Kent have the passion for the brand and company values: I would LOVE to see and hear new TVRs powering round Britain once again.. In fact I would be incredibly tempted to follow my dream and apply for a job.
It might be another non-story, but if it happens good luck to them and please give me one for my PR activities
Smolenski isn't an idiot. I was told whilst I was there he bought a company that the "lovable" Peter Wheeler was taking £9m a year home from in the years before he left (in a company producing ~12 cars a week!), then Nikolai tried to streamline processes, cut losses, improve quality and then when he could no longer justify paying the massive rent that Wheeler demanded for the lease of the TVR property, decided to move out of Blackpool. Sorry to say they never moved in anywhere and he seemingly never cared too much to try harder.
Its clear that TVRs are not the best built but, as all the owner's comments I've read on here ratify, if you are willing to put the time, effort and money into them, not much can make a petrol head happier...
If some people in Kent have the passion for the brand and company values: I would LOVE to see and hear new TVRs powering round Britain once again.. In fact I would be incredibly tempted to follow my dream and apply for a job.
It might be another non-story, but if it happens good luck to them and please give me one for my PR activities
gsuk1 said:
I don't see any reason a group will buy TVR without at least the intention of getting it up and running again.
Also they're not going to invest that much money without some confidence that they can achieve that goal.
Sounds promising to me.
However it'll be interesting to see if/what/when they come up with something.
I'm not sure how TVR cars will fit into the current car market, and if they will even be allowed (under legislation) to build the cars they want to build...
Using American V8s would be a good starting point - cheap, powerful, reliable and no issues on emissions. It would also allow easier sale in the US, especially if those cars were partially assembled by the importers. I can't help thinking that if TVR had taken this route and spent their engine R&D budget on improving production they'd still have been with us.Also they're not going to invest that much money without some confidence that they can achieve that goal.
Sounds promising to me.
However it'll be interesting to see if/what/when they come up with something.
I'm not sure how TVR cars will fit into the current car market, and if they will even be allowed (under legislation) to build the cars they want to build...
I don't see why a backbone chassis and GRP body would pose too much of an issue providing the funding is in place under European low volume type approval schemes - Caterham has achieved it.
Lightningman said:
Don't confuse internet geekery, arm chair experts, school children and rose-tinted spec-wearing TVR lovers with enough commercial goodwill to bankroll a business on.
I wasn't. However, it is evidence that the name 'TVR' is still worth something. Which is what I was commenting on and not this. Also, I doubt you would find a greater number or density of TVR *owners* and potential owners anywhere else on the internet, apart from perhaps the TVRCC (for density but not numbers).
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