It’s been four years since the relaunched TVR announced its intentions to build a new sports car; since then, we only have a Griffith prototype to show for its efforts. Recently, logistic issues relating to its planned Ebbw Vale production facility have prevented the brand from making real ground, but now, following an extensive EU-wide tender process handled by the Welsh Government, a constructor has been selected – meaning real work on the site should be able to begin this year.
TVR has reported on its Facebook page that the delay in announcing a contractor was related to the discovery of “some harmful and unusual substances” in the 200,000 square foot building, which used to be a Techboard factory, alongside “the condition of the main roof and the fire system's water storage tanks”.
Apparently the firm had also failed to foresee just how extensive the search for a building contractor would need to be as a result of Welsh Government financial backing. It had expected to be selecting from a small pool of local candidates, but EU investment requires that tenders are accepted from across Europe. Which sounds time consuming.
All of this meant that TVR has kept pushing back its expected launch date for the Griffith from the initial pledge of 2017. Only now, with a builder successfully nominated can the idea of building 2,000 cars a years said to be back on track - and even then the statement talks about “a few bits and pieces that need to be tied up.” The latest predictions suggest that first deliveries of the Launch Edition model ought to kick off in late 2020, with the volume car appearing a year later.
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