Just imagine that your name is Leslie Edgar for a moment, and that you are a highly successful computer-games software engineer who has just bought TVR “lock, stock and barrel” from its previous owner, Nikolei Smolenski. What would you do with your new car company during the weeks, months and years to come?
What sort of cars would you be looking to produce? What sort of engines and gearboxes might they use? Who would you be trying to lure away from their current jobs to design and engineer them properly? What would they look like? And how much, approximately, would your new cars cost?
On Pistonheads today there is an interview with Mr Edgar in which he gives little away. He won’t even say which particular TVRs he’s owned in the past (if any) on the grounds that he doesn’t want the new TVR to be pre-judged in any way whatsoever. Which is fair enough I suppose, if a little cold emotionally.
You’d have to hope that in the hands of a British enthusiast – one who doesn’t have any direct previous experience within the car industry but who clearly has the company’s best intentions at heart – TVR could once again flourish; that it could once again become a great British sports car company, no less.
But how’s that going to happen? How is TVR going to take on Porsche, for example, in its quest to make The Great Comeback? Or will it go way upmarket drastically from where it once was in order to avoid the confrontation altogether?
I know what I think Mr Edgar should do with TVR, and there will no doubt be many opportunities in the future for me to express my opinions on the subject, having got quite close to the company not THAT long before its demise as a works driver for the racing team between 1998-2000. But in the meantime, let’s start with you.
What do you think Leslie Edgar should do with TVR? Answers below please.
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'New' TVR
Having driven a couple of TVRs briefly I would advise building a new car on the Griffith500 formula, but as well as keeping it simple make it very strong and reduce electronics to a minimum. Build quality is what keeps Morgan going.
TVR Automotive
Mr Sutcliffe, sir,
It seems Mr Edgar's PH interview/statement 12 June was as illuminating for what he was unable to say (legal, confidentiality restrictions imposed by former owner NS) as much as for what he was able to 'clarify'. On balance this all seems very good news and - unlike any of the rest of us - he is (possibly alongside other consortium, members) demonstrating the veracity of his intentions by literally putting his money where his mouth is, so to speak.
Taking things on 'face value', hats-off to the man; in his statements there are several references to TVR's 'DNA' - encouraging to marque-enthusiasts and wholly rational, for what would be the point of buying company rights only to bin the fundamentals in favour of entirely new concept. NS seemed to have had the [not so] bright idea that TVR, as a brand, could be used for all sorts of 'merchandising' but failed in car production start-up, probably due to lack of automotive experience in combination with insufficient 'due diligence' prior to acquisition of something affordable-to-him at the time, from the admirable PRW - who effectively demonstrated how good he was as a poker player, releasing a significant legacy sum for his young family.
TVR history provides adequate hindsight: If I have understood correctly, the unfortunately naive (but also hugely admirable) TW was ousted from his own position as founder-owner by successions of 'businessmen' engaged in what would now be called financial engineering, or worse. Due to the exigencies of unfavourable UK-economic conditions the 'fort-holding' Messrs Lilley eventually had to sell-on, essentially because of financial/cash-flow difficulties. With new car orders cliff-diving in the wake of AJP6 inherent defect warranty claims/on-going, whole-vehicle perceived reliability concerns (sensation-seeking motoring journos' glib use of overly-colourful metaphors, should certainly shoulder their fair share of the blame for this aspect), PRW would have had to severely rationalise the company during 2004, had he not been able retire ahead of what proved to be a terminal illness in 2009.
Perhaps it’s due to the affects of quantitative easing that there seems to have been a re-/de-valuation of sterling (i.e. by the back door), because even Jaguar sportscars are no longer the bargain that, say, the iconic E-type was during the 1960s? 1970s general inflation apart, TVRs during Lilley-Wheeler eras always seemed affordable, almost 'blue collar' (like Mustangs in the US, contrasting to Corvettes, where latter seemingly more in the young-professional 'white collar' sector) so, to retain widest popularity in the UK, new cars would need to be as 'unsophisticated' as it is legally-possible to be to manufacture - at least at 'entry level'?
TVR DNA CONCLUSIONS
(i) Engine configuration: the Lilley-era's first Griffith & Tuscan LWB had US-Ford V8s (plus GM ‘experiments’); PRW's most successful years were US-GM derived, Rover-V8 based (the AJP8 Cerbera was hardly a flop as a V8, merely very different to RV8 and not as highly profitable as a model that financial engineers would have insisted upon - but, fortunately for marque enthusiasts, PRW was a chemical engineer, not an accountant), so this would suggest that if TVR Automotive is to follow TVR's DNA any model should have a V8 'base' specification with more expensive/sophisticated options (smaller or bigger number of cylinders, with/without forced induction) available for those with deeper pockets.
(ii) Build quality: the converse position to overlooking an 'entry level' cost option, is to chase medium-to-highly expensive, sportscar & GT competition (e.g. Porsche, Mercedes, Audi, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini), where all have extremely good build quality. Indeed, attempting to compete by producing something any better that sort of competition (perhaps in an honest attempt to divest the marque of its passed reliability/quality 'issues') would, as one prominent motoring journalist once put it, mean that the car would have to be built better than a Faberge egg, effectively producing the £million car that LE has already ruled-out. Sound 'common sense' as well as being highly rational - to enter that sector he would had to have bought something as prestigious as AM, not start with the widely-perceived-to-be-tarnished TVR... So something fundamentally sound & simple (like partnership-sharing with the likes of: Ginetta, Lotus or Caterham/Alpine chassis or 'tub'), nicely trimmed but - at entry level at least - not overly concerned with NVH issues or being opulently well-trimmed-out?
(iii) Body design: retaining 'DNA' suggests retaining as many as possible past marque 'styling cues' but still allowing for some evolution, i.e. short of producing a 'pastiche-retro' outcome. One could do far worse than consult with Messrs Ravenscroft, McTaggart & Coughlan; if you haven't already done so, Mr LE, please do so even if it's eventually to rule-them-out for whatever reasons? TVR’s most advanced car & shape must surely have been the Tuscan R/T400R/T440R/Typhon; it may be just the writer becoming a little aesthetically confused but there seem to be several matching design cues in the [so-far abortive?] Zegato Perana Z-one, to be inspired by, perhaps?
Yours sincerely,
lfsv8 - ardent TVR-follower
Smile
Having read the comments, it made me smile, as I have assumed that some were made with the author's tongue stuck firmly in their cheek, and others whilst wearing, very thick, rose-tinted glasses.
If I were the new owner, I would first have to consider the following, before deciding what to do with my purchase (assuming that I owned all of the applicable rights):
1. What is predicted to sell well over the next 10 years? (probable life of any model released)
2. Who would my competition be?
3. In order to survive, and be able to invest in variations and eventually a replacement, what profit margin would I need to generate? (and in what market segment could I hope to achieve this?)
4. See who I could sign an engineering and power train supply deal with, and if possible, do so with other conditions, such as support for a racing programme, and, as Caterham has done, the possibility of a joint project in the future (the tech trickle-down would be beneficial for future models)
5. As the UK is the third biggest market for Lamborghini and that was the direction , I would start by engineering a car to suit the UK market, but to engineer in the tech required to sell the car in other markets (like the US), if sales exceed expectations and the projected sales in these markets are sufficient to support the sales/servicing network necessary.
6. Whichever market segment I chose, I would start with a halo model, lowest sales expectation and largest profit margin, so most likely to recoup costs. This is based on the fact that TVR has a negative reputation and an image to suit, so I would have to build both from the ground up.
If I could not meet all of the above, I would walk away, the previous owner found out to his cost, that you need very deep pockets indeed to play with the big boys..............