Latest announcement from TVR

Dear All
Can Silence be Golden? 
It’s been a little while since the last update and we do know that silence is not always golden, but we have been off our feet.
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Real progress has been made in the face of significant challenges – the wheels of government grind ever so slowly onwards, but onwards nonetheless, albeit sometimes in a slightly different direction than you may have been led to believe!

Of course we realise it’s been quiet, and never want to mislead any of our supporters. As ever we only bring you news when it’s news - not spin, but we understand that the silence often leads to frustrations. Luckily, the vast majority are willing to wait for a ‘great thing’…and we’re going to deliver it! Thanks to everybody who continues to be part of the history of TVR – you’re going to get a fantastic TVR-designed car, engineered by legendary Gordon Murray CBE, and powered by a mega V8 - what’s not worth waiting for??!

We’ve Always made plain Ebbw Vale is core to our strategy and, as we’ve mentioned previously,the factory is proceeding more slowly than we would like and whilst we are achieving forward momentum, sometimes bureaucratic processes that are designed to assist actually hamper. At last, we are very pleased to announce that we are appointing Jones Brothers (Henllan) in respect of our element of the factory refurbishment and fit-out plans for the site in Ebbw Vale!

Jones Brothers ( jbhl.co.uk ) have extensive and broad experience in the construction and civil engineering sector, as well as being local boys and leaders in their field for nearly 50 years. The range of projects they have worked on in the past is not limited to buildings either, with highway construction being part of their repertoire together with some great projects such as working on the Swansea City Training Academy amongst others. With their highways experience it raised a few suggestions in the canteen over what is done with the perimeter road around the factory for car ‘testing’ … thinking about that, now’s the time for some cool suggestions for things the factory should have – a set of Carlos Fandango wheels goes to the best idea submitted – 2 sets for second place!

Actually, Jones Bros. are a delight to work with and I have the utmost faith that they will produce a facility unlike that of any other sports car manufacturer. The handover of your car at the factory will be an experience, the like of which you are unlikely to find anywhere else.

We understand from Mr Jones that the refurbishment works, repairs to the building itself and fit-out are relatively straightforward, although I’m sure there’ll be some unexpected stuff along the way. We are now waiting to confirm the anticipated start of works on site and, ultimately, the project completion date which will give us (and you!) the necessary info to plan for Start of Production.

Returning to major matters of moment, we’ve always made plain that we have Global ambitions, this is where the long-term, bigger picture lies, not least given Brexit, and this is what has been occupying huge amounts of attention of our small but nimble team. Not to detract from Ebbw Vale, but nor let Ebbw Vale pull us back from our attentions in that direction.

To compete effectively on the worldwide stage on a standalone basis is not something you can do from Walliswood or indeed Ebbw Vale, you need a serious global partner. We have had a number of serious offers but I have to choose the right partner for all of us. TVR is not a brand that I want dissolving into another name. I feel a personal duty to keep the name alive, individual and unique. I look at some sports cars these days and get so confused as to the brand and model - I am determined that will not be TVR. As is often the case, we thought we were ‘there’ with two counterparties (this in fact was the ‘Big News’ we alluded to in a previous update) but for the reasons above, the deals and the counterparties weren’t right. We’re determined not to compromise, even if it means delay, as we’ve always said, and we aren’t going to back off or fail to deliver. 

Please remember that all of the team at TVR have skin in the game – we put our own money into this, our own blood, sweat and tears – it’s not just business, it’s very personal for us. Of course, we have to make money to survive and grow and, for all the reasons previously explained, the cash requirement has grown. That means raising more than we had planned in order to grow our business in the way we need to. We’re doing that and now working on the best alternatives. We appreciate that our focus on getting it ‘right’ rather than ‘quick’ means there’s now a stretch between expectation when we were pressed to open the depositor book and current expectation, which we’ll minimise so far as we can while maintaining that focus on ‘rightness’ 

Actually, Silence is Golden 
As a reward to our faithful early supporters who are such an important part of our journey - keeping the faith alongside us in the resurrection of this iconic marque and delivery of this awesome machine - we are devising a scheme to say thank you.

Next month we will let you have details of our proposals to reward those who have been so supportive, those who have placed deposits with us (some before they knew even the most basic details of the new car, or that it would be the next Griffith!). It will reflect our thanks and hopefully acknowledge your support! We are even looking into the issue of (free!) shares to our faithful deposit holders (subject to regulatory requirements)…

In other news….
Fancy being a little alternative? 

Here’s something for those overly concerned they won’t be able to drive into cities with a fire-breathing V8 unless they have Hybrid credentials…we’ve got ‘em! It’s probably the case that it will be mandatory to have a hybrid bit nailed to your car for some geographies, even if you don’t believe the powers that be have really thought this whole ecology thing through. Our powertrain partner is Ford, so don’t panic, we’ve got it covered. Note, other food blenders are available!

Next month we’ll update you on all of the above and more.
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All the best
Les
TVR Manufacturing Ltd
Also some images of the latest versions of the seats.