Sports car company TVR is to cease production in the UK, with the loss of 250 jobs at its factory in Blackpool.
The move sees the company go back on an earlier agreement to keep production in the Lancashire seaside town.

TVR, which was bought by young Russian tycoon Nikolai Smolensky in 2004, said it was now in consultation with unions over redundancies.

The Transport and General Workers' Union said it was bitterly disappointed at the decision.

Speculation that the firm would move production to another European country had been growing since the start of the year.

It is now expected to open a new factory within the next three months.

Yet only last month TVR said it would be staying in Blackpool, firstly at its current site in Bispham until 2008, and then at a new permanent home at Blackpool Business Park.

In April the firm temporarily stood down 71 members of staff because of flagging demand, which was said to have fallen from 12 cars a week to just two.

While TVR is renowned for offering high performance cars at a competitive price, it is also fair to say that its vehicles have suffered from reliability issues in recent years.

Established in 1947, TVR is Britain's largest independent sports carmaker.

It was founded by Trevor Wilkinson, who used three consonants from his first name for the company title.

"This is a bitter blow for Blackpool and an iconic British sports car," said Dave McCall, T&G North West regional secretary.

"It is particularly hard to take in after everyone's hopes had been raised just a few months ago, when workers who had been laid off were taken back."

It's exciting enough that Les Edgar and his investor consortium have promised a new TVR for 2017.

But revelations that designer Gordon Murray—you might remember him from a little car called the McLaren F1—and legendary engine builder Cosworth will be involved with the next-generation machine has translated to some serious excitement.

Here's the word from TVR's operations director John Chasey:

"We've been totally blown away by the reaction to the new car. Our phone lines and online enquiry system went into meltdown when the news was announced, and we decided that we must begin to bring a structure to the enquiries and build a delivery pipeline well in advance of production."

Potential buyers will be able to place deposits of £5,000 (approximately $7,800) to secure a car from the first year of production starting July 7, and in a nod to the brand's history, members of the TVR Car Club will be able to reserve one for £2,500 (approximately $3,900). No technical specs are available at this time, but we know with Gordon Murray helping with the project, and a Cosworth V-8 under the hood, the product of this union should be spectacular indeed.

In keeping with the brand's bareknuckle tradition, the cars will reportedly be raw, driver-focused machines. So don't expect to see a state-of-the-art dual-clutch gearbox, hybrid systems, or electronic nannies. The key ingredients here will be a lightweight chassis, a high-horsepower engine and a third pedal.

In other words, this beefy Brit will be closer to a first-gen Viper than a McLaren P1.

Of course, there have been some false starts in the push to bring TVR out of hibernation, and we have more questions than answers right now. But as soon as we know more, you will too.

Stay tuned.