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TVR is back and in British hands

No, you aren’t dreaming ─ TVR is making a comeback. Just let that sink in for a second. British entrepreneur Les Edgar recently purchased the TVR brand from former Russian owner Nikolai Smolenski for an undisclosed amount, with a view to bringing the iconic brand back from the dead and into British hands.

“We’ve done a lot of background work,” the new Surrey-based owner said to Top Gear in an interview. “This wasn’t a snap decision. We have the money to do it, and we have a unique collection of people with business acumen and passion.”

Could we see a return of the TVR Sagaris?
Could we see a return of the TVR Sagaris?

TVR was often heralded as a true sports car marque, largely because its cars were incredibly light, hugely powerful, relatively affordable given their level of performance and didn’t come with much in the way of extras. Traction control? Nah, that’s for the weak.

It was unreliability and poor build quality that tainted the dream for many. Perhaps alluding to TVR’s bad reputation for troublesome and sometimes expensive ownership, Edgar attempted to reassure fans. “[We] won’t make the mistakes that have been made in the past,” he said.

Thanks to the joy of non-disclosure agreements, Edgar was unable to spill the beans on what TVR has up its sleeve, which means we have to guess whether we will see a brand new model or tarted up old models. But he was keen to stress the focus on being British and the heritage that goes with it.

“You can’t let these great brands disappear or go abroad,” he explained. “The starting point was ‘let’s get it back’. There’s a huge amount of passion with the TVR brand. You’d be hard-pushed to find a British car brand that generates so much passion.”

Smolenski bought TVR for an alleged £15 million back in 2004 in a bid to change the company’s fortunes. Sadly, a lack of new models, increasing customer demands and rising costs meant profitability was an impossibility and the plug was pulled in July, 2012.

Les Edgar co-founded Bullfrog Productions, the legendary game development company behind a number of classic games including Populous, Theme Park, Theme Hospital and Dungeon Keeper. Edgar also funded the return of Aston Martin back into GT racing and is a keen fan of said manufacturer.

TVR is famous for its curvy, utterly bonkers approach to car design and its bespoke interiors that sometimes fell apart in your hands. Its most memorable models include the TVR Sagaris, Cerbera and the one-off Speed 12 concept that was said to have at least 800bhp.

Via: Top Gear

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