TVR Stays in Britain
Move will happen in coming months

Independent British sports car manufacturer, TVR has finalised the first stage of its relocation plans, and would like to confirm that it will be remaining in Britain and predominantly within Lancashire, the region in which the company was founded in 1947.


For the foreseeable future, TVR will operate from a new international headquarters in Lancaster, where the management, sales and marketing teams, as well as research and development, will all be based. There will also be a TVR museum and an archive library at the headquarters, to which press, visitors, customers and enthusiasts will be warmly welcomed.


Following extensive discussions with the local council, final production of TVR cars will also remain within Lancashire, at a confirmed plant in the Squires Gate area of Blackpool. It is planned that some sub-assembly manufacturing will eventually be conducted away from the new plant, but that remains the subject of further discussion and is linked to new materials technology that will be a feature of future TVR models.


The new facilities, to which TVR will be moving within the coming months, will help TVR achieve Euro IV type approval and to realise an increased international presence, as well as to further its programme of continuous quality improvements. The relocation will be carefully managed to minimise disruption, and customers' orders will be unaffected.


"This is the first stage of transition for the company," said David Oxley, managing director of TVR. "The Squire’s Gate facility will enable us to increase our volumes in-line with Euro IV approval and with the opening up of new international markets for TVR. The Lancaster headquarters will also increase efficiency in our administration, research and development, aftersales and sales and marketing departments."


These strategic moves by TVR continue to strengthen its position as one of the very few remaining truly British sports car manufacturers, a claim of which it is extremely proud. The company remains committed to producing exhilarating premium performance cars, something it has done for almost 60 years and a tradition that it's looking forward to continuing well into the future.

Nikolai Smolenski, TVR's chairman added: "Our eventual plan is a brand new factory for TVR, but our choice of site for that facility is a decision to be made in the future. We have introduced a relocation strategy that allows TVR to grow into the international company that has always been my vision, and to continue to build on the improved quality using a skilled and committed local workforce."

Niche British sports car manufacturer TVR is known for its wild, off-the-wall designs and the formidable nature of its cars when pushed to their limits. Sadly, Peter Wheeler, the man who was instrumental in building the brand for over two decades has passed away at the age of 64, following a short illness.

Wheeler's reign at the helm of TVR for 23 years was the longest period any one individual continuously ran the company. Taking ownership in 1981, Wheeler was instrumental in the design and marketing of several famed TVR models, including the cars that arguably cemented the company’s brand identity as a passionate sports car manufacturer. Under his ownership, Wheeler oversaw construction of the Griffith, Chimeera, Cerbera and the mighty Sagaris.

Wheeler was also present for the construction of TVR's Cerbera Speed 12, a vehicle he described as too powerful for the road and thus decided against putting it into serious production - probably a good thing considering that more tame TVR's are already a handful to drive while the Cerbera boasted a top speed of 240mph and close to 1,000hp (746kW) from its V12 engine.

Currently, TVR is owned by 29-year old Russian banker Nikolai Smolensky, who reportedly bought the company from Wheeler for close to £15 million back in 2004. Despite the sale being half-a-decade ago, Wheeler's influence is still seen throughout the company, especially in its eye-catching Sagaris model that Wheeler, a chemical engineer by trade, helped to design.

Wheeler's legacy will continue to live on through TVR with news emerging last year that the troubled automaker will be coming out with a revised Sagaris and dialing up production, following years of economic turbulence following Smolenski's takeover.

Goodwood Revival debut for 200mph British V8 coupe. Launch car will cost just under £90k

TVR has announced that it will reveal its all-new, 200mph supercar on 8 September 2017 at the Goodwood Revival; the first time a car manufacturer has ever done so at the event.

It will form the centrepiece of a display of many more TVR cars too, to celebrate the company’s 70th anniversary. Cue lots of noise (and perhaps the odd drop of oil here and there).

What do we know about the new car then? That it’ll weigh 1,200kg, offer up 400bhp per-tonne from a 5.0-litre, Cosworth-developed V8, and be able to go from 0-60mph in under four seconds.

TVR also promises that the new supercar will be able to top 200mph. So it’s plenty fast. It’s been designed with input from Gordon Murray’s company, and will use part-carbon construction from Murray’s iStream manufacturing process, which aims to make lighter, sandwiched carbon panels is a fraction of the time and cost of traditional CFRP.

Limited to 500 cars and dubbed ‘Launch Edition’, these carbon-cladded cars will also feature ground effect aero too. A small allocation of this initial run has been held back for the world debut at Goodwood, and order books will reopen again at the Revival. We already know at least 300 people have put down deposits on the new TVR, so the Launch Edition could go at Goodwood…

The cost of this Launch Edition? Under £90,000. “After a series of private viewings organised for the benefit of existing customers for the new car, we know that we have a surefire hit on our hands, and very much look forward to welcoming them to the Revival in September,” TVR boss Les Edgar explains.

Edgar, no stranger to a soundbite, has previously told TG that TVRs should be “all about wheelspin outside the local pub” and hinted the Porsche Cayman, BMW M2 and Jaguar F-Type have been handling benchmarks. Roll on the results of all that fighting talk at Goodwood Revival…

As TVR returns, TG explores the best, and maddest, of the Brit marque’s creations

Ferrari and TVR have two major things in common: they’ll both be 70 in 2017, and they’re both named after their respective founders.

Sadly for the British end of the equation, Ferrari sounds faster than Trevor, and Maranello - as industrial as it is - is closer to Bologna and conspicuously not Blackpool. Nerapiscina, anyone?

Even so, and despite frequent brushes with bankruptcy, the abbreviated TVR managed to punch so far above its weight, particularly during its 1990s heyday, that it could have floored Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson and Carl Froch simultaneously.

Yes, TVRs enjoyed questionable reliability, and a fast drive down a wet B-road could turn a fully paid-up atheist into a swivel-eyed born-again Bible-wrangler.

They smelt a bit funny, too. Well of adhesive, to be honest, enough to get you moderately high, which meant you simply giggled gormlessly as another bit of trim flopped onto the floor.

But they were also an an adventure, a rite-of-passage for a generation raised on front-drive hot hatches suddenly initiated into the black art of oversteer, and their irresistibly curvy, hourglass shapes became steadily more psychedelic. For a while, in fact, Top Gear and TVR went together like fish and chips, until boss Peter Wheeler (rest his soul) cashed in and flogged his baby to a pubescent Russian. Cue the mushy peas.

Now, as you’ll surely know, TVR is back, British-owned, and will be heartily infused with Gordon’s Murray’s design genius and Cosworth power. The new supercar will even top 200mph. Until we see the final thing at the 2017 Goodwood Revival, here are the company’s greatest hits.

Grantura (1960s)

The start of TVR as anyone under the age of about 95 would recognise it. Available with no fewer than two different Ford engines, two Coventry Climax engines, or the B-series unit used by the MGA.

It was a golden era for British sports cars in America, and Granturas were imported by a bloke called Roy Saidel. Not as impressive as the main British dealer’s name - H & J Quick. Or an early proposal for the car’s name: Hoo Hill Hellcat.

Vixen (late 1960s)

Coincided with the arrival of Martin Lilley as new owner and a move to Bristol Avenue premises. Also coincided with TVR’s eye-catching fondness for draping scantily clad ladies over their motor show cars, which aroused - steady - the ire of the SMMT.

350i/420 SEAC (1980s)

Pretty if period wedgy late-1970s Tasmin morphed gradually into the TVR that would straddle the ’80s and ’90s.
Former chemical engineer Peter Wheeler had acquired the company, and Ford’s Cologne V6 was bumped in favour of Rover’s redoubtable V8 - in 1983, 190bhp was a load of grunt, and certainly enough for the 350i’s chassis to cope with. Except that it wasn’t, which is where the 420 SEAC came in touting 300bhp from its bored-out and revised engine.
Also featured a Kevlar/fibreglass composite body, and dinner table rear spoiler. Barking.

Griffith 500 (1990s)

The very essence of modern British sports car, the Griff arrived in 1991 and exited in 2002, managing the world’s longest drift throughout the whole of the 1990s as it did so.
TVR’s prolonged fettling of the Rover V8 resulted in 340bhp, and as it weighed barely more than a tonne we’re talking a big-cojones power-to-weight ratio. Some of these cars may have crashed.

Chimaera (1992)

TVR’s doozy, a slightly more cultured, softly suspended GT take on the hairy-arsed Griff. Started life with a comparatively civilised 240bhp, ended up with 100 more, via 4.3 4.5 and 5.0-litre incarnations.
Wheeler’s dog Ned said to be responsible for the distinctive bonnet slashes. Still a better car designer than some humans we could name.

Cerbera (1996)

As Wheeler was about 20ft tall, all hail the vaguely ludicrous looking yet entirely wonderful Cerbera. It also had the distinction of being the first 2+2, and more significantly the first TVR to use the company’s own engine, the AJP6 and AJP8.
This commitment to going its own way was equal parts barmy and inspired, but put severe financial strain on the company. The throttle travel was so long the pedal passed through several different time zones, but helped compensate for the Cerbera’s amusing surplus of power over grip.
And the absence of traction control. TVR didn’t do traction control. God no. That was the devil’s doing, that was.

Tuscan (1999)

Co-starred with John Travolta and Halle Berry in forgotten Hollywood heist flick Swordfish (the film in which, fact-fans, Miss Berry got a $500,000 bonus for, ahem, disrobing).
But the Tuscan is better remembered as arguably the best-looking TVR of all. And one of the best to drive, once they’d sorted the initially wayward chassis. Red Rose version made 380bhp. Waywardness not an asset here.

Sagaris (2003)

The swansong for TVR, at least until the next-gen emerges. Even deep into the Noughties, TVR somehow gave ABS, ESP and airbags the swerve, as they were all counter to the company’s adrenalised philosophy.
Sagaris was named after an ancient Greek battle-axe, and its super-fast steering and narrow slip angles made it appropriately knife-edgy on the race-track. Focused the mind like few other cars, ever.