TVR are to close UK production with the loss of 250 jobs at their Blackpool factory.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6062084.stm
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Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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I used to have a Griff 500. Hell of a beast and never let me down but I didn't get another because it was too raw and after I got used to the thrill I hampered after something a bit more relaxing. Still, if they aint making money then the business has to do something. Shame though.
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The workforce at Bispham Avenue have been strung along for several months now and it's disgraceful.
Although they suspected that they would eventually lose their jobs, it's still not very pleasant to find out from the media rather than company bosses.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Sad to see it close, but my experience of TVR ownership was one of a fragile and unreliable product combined with dealers whose incompetence was almost comical. The bright spot was being able to drive a spectacularly overpowered vehicle (5 litre V8, 340bhp and a kerb weight similar to a Fiat Uno), if only for short periods of time between breakdowns.
"You can't expect Porsche reliability at TVR prices" said the dealer after telling me they were basically giving up trying to solve an overheating problem the car had been cursed with since I bought it.
Lovely looking machines, but I'll stick to my similarly powered, similarly priced and infinitely more dependable BMW.
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How is moving production abroad going to fix the problem of an empty order book that requires two cars a day to be built?
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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does this mean used tvr will be cheaper. i fancy a sagaris as already had griffith 500. which i crashed into a lamp post after applying too much power on a round about in the wetk
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They sell two on a good week, compared to 12 when it was bought by the international underworld a couple of years ago.
The show's over folks.
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Unless I've done the maths wrong I would think that an empty order book required no cars to be built per day!
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Its empty most of the time,
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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end of an error.............. :-)
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It's been TVR in name only for the last couple of years. The original TVR concept was lightweight, more than enough power and cheap(ish). Crazy to try and push prices up to Porsche levels.
Who next? Caterham?
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I'm not sure I understand why it matters. I am sure that every day we lose our last factory that makes british widgets, I suspect that every day also sees the opening of our first factory that makes british wodgets. Why does it matter more, almost religiously, if it concerns the manufacture of cars ?
If people like it, they'll buy it. They didn't buy british cars. I guess that, therefore, they didn't like british cars. It might have been the management, the unions, the owners, the government, the media or Mrs Jones' cat. Whatever, the result is the same.
If someone is making millions of dollars makign a car in a certain way in a certain place, then they'll continue. If they're losing money, or making less than they could another way/time/place/rpoduct, then they'll stop.
Sometimes the government will use subsidies to conceal or mitigate the economic argument - its a short term, costly, and usually ineffectual approach.
But still, my main question is; why does it matter more when its cars than when its widgets or wodgets ?
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But still, my main question is; why does it matter more when its cars than when its widgets or wodgets ?
Probably because at one point Britain had the second-biggest car industry in the world, and as with all past glories, we Brits find it hard to face facts and let go of the past.
It's not just cars. Locally to the North East, there has been an ongoing saga with the shipbuilders. As far back as I can remember Tyne Tees news has been leading with ship-building woe, every other week it seems. Reason? 100 years ago Sunderland was the be-all and end-all of the global shipping industry. Past glories again.
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">why does it matter more when its cars than when its widgets or wodgets <"
Because cars represent national pride for many people in many countries.
The French buy French cars, the Germans buy German cars and the Italians crash Italian cars. We multicultural Brits buy anything. Except for TVRs of course.
Outside the narrow confines of HJ's august organ and similar, I doubt if Mr and Mrs Lagerswiller could care less about TVR, which hasn't been British owned since Peter departed.
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The car industry matters because cars are the pretty much the most expensive manufactured consumer good. Car making also generates jobs for suppliers and also many services.
Whilst the British have had 25 years of being told that 'manufacturing doesn't matter' the rest of the world's governments have been making sure that they support their automotive industries. Although I suppose when you're trying to build a land fit for estate agents and mortgage brokers having a few more manufacturing workers on the dole is a price worth paying.....
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The British car industry isn't dead anyway. A comparable number of cars are produced in the UK now to that produced at the supposed peak of our car industry. The difference of course is that the plants are no longer owned by British interests.
If the British firms had remained competitive, they would not be employing substantially more people than Nissan, Honda et al are now. But they did not remain competitive, and they died.
The European manufacturers are also inefficient, have been propped up by governments, and eventually there is going to come a time when there is going to be pain in France, Germany and Italy (Italy probably sooner than the other two). The US is already there.
Here's a theory you may want to discuss : no-one would care about TVR disappearing were it not for the fact that the rest of the Brit indigenous industry has died, thereby proving my comment about not wanting to let go.
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But still, my main question is; why does it matter more when its cars than when its widgets or wodgets ?
Cos for every failed car maker there are 100 widget and wodget makers also effected.
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Not if they are only selling two cars a week,I had heard they were looking for a new factory in the Dresden area but that is only hearsay,but a lot of people are moving to the area being the centre of the EU now we have new member states I would have thought Poland or Czech were favourite myself.
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>>The car industry matters because cars are the pretty much the most expensive manufactured consumer good. Car making also generates jobs for suppliers and also many services.
All true. But it doesn't matter whether its British or not, does it ? Ok, to some extent it matters whether or not its in Britain, but not whether its British or Japanese or anything else ?
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I always wanted a tvr. You can only push up the prices to be in line with porsche if you also have the build quality and reliability to go with it. TVRs are still kit cars at heart so should fetch those prices. Considering clarkson raved about their current models and said it was the first tvr he had driven that hadn't tried to kill him. Maybe that has put off potential owners as they buy them for the macho element and want to dice with death?!
teabelly
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Happy to see any factory go or not is irrelevant, whether its car factory or not. i hate the loss of any factory etc.
What it is, is loss of jobs, again. loss of actual production (future security), and the loss of a british car!
No doubt they will keep the name and trade on (probably with healthy profit too) but it will not be a british car anymore.
Never heard of pride etc? We used to be the envy of the world; now we are just envious of the world.
way too late to apportion blame (it wasnt just the unions or the managemnt or the government), but way too late to have a british car anymore.
So buy british, nissan, honda etc ! until they run out of handouts and go somewhere cheaper too!
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I find it impossible to have any regard or respect for an industrial community that has consistently failed to modernise, adapt and survive. The traditional British tendency to feel smugly superior has surely been entirely discredited by now.
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I thought that one of the main reasons for buying a TVR was that it IS british and by buying one you could have a "hairy chested sports car" AND be proud to buy british at the same time - this would help to offset TVR's sometimes hit and miss build quality.
They seem to have thrown away TVRs biggest asset - its workforce and its British image. How much can they company be worth now without those two (in my opinion) vital elements? I know dot coms have little value other than an idea or a virtual value - I'd have thought TVR would've had to have a better image than what its got to get away with just keeping a name?
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TVRs were interesting cars, survivors from an era whenthere were loads of small British sports car manufacturers.
But with the big companies making so many high performance models now, perhaps TVR's time was up.
Although a fondly remembered name among car enthusiasts in Britain, I don't think the TVR name would have any great appeal if applied to a car made overseas.
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So what's left mow of the 'indiginous' British motor industry? Morgan - Bristol - Caterham - Noble - all using bought-in engines from foreign-owned manufacturers.
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