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TVR has pledged to deliver its first cars toward the end of 2023, once the factory is completed. TVR is primed to recruit and train staff to produce the new sports car to reach this goal, and Les Edgar(TVR Chairman), alongside CEO Jim Berriman and operations director John Chasey, recently spoke to our sister title evo magazine to explain the current state of the project.
Speaking on the early Griffith prototype that hit show stands in 2017, Edgar asserted: “If we hadn’t done what we did, take a brave step and leapfrog a few stages you would normally go through before you produce a road-going thing that you can drive around a track and take up and down the road; had we not done that, we would be in a lot more of a state in terms of timing.”
According to TVR, building a fully working prototype of the upcoming sports car was key to giving customers, investors and stakeholders faith in the project. “We can jump in it and say: ‘We’ll bring the car to you’. You can hear it and see it and feel it and drive it. And I think that’s made a huge difference in terms of promoting it,” said the chairman.
“Especially if you speak to someone not in the industry. You can’t show them a mule car,” added Berriman, who helped bring the Land Rover Freelander and L322-generation Range Rover to production during a stint at Rover Group.
With a 5.0-litre V8 engine from Ford and a Gordon Murray derived iStream chassis, the Griffith has taken significantly less R&D than a bespoke, ground up vehicle in order to come to fruition. However, the key sticking point is actually building the car - the Ebbw Vale factory where it'll be produced remains a work in progress, although the end is in sight according to the firm.
Edgar admits “It’s rarely a case of ‘they must be doing brilliantly because they’re not saying anything’. The key thing is everything takes longer, from deciding how to do the car with Gordon [Murray] to working with shareholders”.
The factory is being provided by the Welsh Assembly, but red tape around state funding has delayed its completion. What was initially a refurbishment of the facility became a longer rebuild which began in 2020, and strangled TVRs investment prospects, according to Edgar.
“We got into a bit of a chicken-and-egg scenario. We explained that our investment case would be more attractive if work was already underway with the factory, and it took more time to get agreement that work could start ahead of our next round of investment and recruiting staff.” The firm told evo that progress of the rebuild would see TVR gain access to the plant in the first quarter of 2022, but whether this has happened is unknown.
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According to TVR, building a fully working prototype of the upcoming sports car was key to giving customers, investors and stakeholders faith in the project. “We can jump in it and say: ‘We’ll bring the car to you’. You can hear it and see it and feel it and drive it. And I think that’s made a huge difference in terms of promoting it,” said the chairman.
“Especially if you speak to someone not in the industry. You can’t show them a mule car,” added Berriman, who helped bring the Land Rover Freelander and L322-generation Range Rover to production during a stint at Rover Group.
With a 5.0-litre V8 engine from Ford and a Gordon Murray derived iStream chassis, the Griffith has taken significantly less R&D than a bespoke, ground up vehicle in order to come to fruition. However, the key sticking point is actually building the car - the Ebbw Vale factory where it'll be produced remains a work in progress, although the end is in sight according to the firm.
Edgar admits “It’s rarely a case of ‘they must be doing brilliantly because they’re not saying anything’. The key thing is everything takes longer, from deciding how to do the car with Gordon [Murray] to working with shareholders”.
The factory is being provided by the Welsh Assembly, but red tape around state funding has delayed its completion. What was initially a refurbishment of the facility became a longer rebuild which began in 2020, and strangled TVRs investment prospects, according to Edgar.
“We got into a bit of a chicken-and-egg scenario. We explained that our investment case would be more attractive if work was already underway with the factory, and it took more time to get agreement that work could start ahead of our next round of investment and recruiting staff.” The firm told evo that progress of the rebuild would see TVR gain access to the plant in the first quarter of 2022, but whether this has happened is unknown.