TVR to move to Europe

[iraghava]

FLASH! TVR MOVES TO EUROPE

All UK jobs will be lost


TVR's Bristol Avenue home


TVR, Britain's oldest independent carmaker, is to close its UK production plant and move to Europe. All 260 jobs at the company's historic home at Bristol Avenue, Blackpool, its home town since 1947, will be lost. Few details have emerged, apart from the company's having suddenly appointed an external PR company to present its first statement for TVR.
According to TVR boss Nikolai Smolenski, TVR could not carry on the way it was.


TVR's statement reads:
Staff at TVR’s Blackpool factory have been informed today that the company is planning to outsource all production.

Agreements are being finalised for the 2007 run of Tuscan, Tuscan Convertible and Sagaris to be produced in Europe while fully built powertrains – straight six, four-litre TVR engines including clutch and gearbox – are due to be produced in the UK.

TVR owner Nikolai Smolenski said: “We are extremely sorry that, after a period of uncertainty and raised hopes that we could continue production ourselves in Blackpool, we have had to make this decision.
“We need to secure the future of the company and move it forward. I am afraid we see no other way to do so.”

Consultation has begun with staff and the Transport & General Workers Union on redundancy and counselling support is being put in place.
TVR plans to continue with all current arrangements for the supply of cars and parts. Discussions are being held with key suppliers about future relationships.


Mr Smolenski continued: “We are acutely aware of the shock and distress this will cause for our staff and their families. We will ensure that we meet all our responsibilities towards them over the coming months.
“We would also like to express our gratitude to all those who have worked with us over the past months to try to maintain the company in Blackpool.
“We shall be making further announcements in due course about our plans which we believe represent a major advance for the proud name of TVR. But for the time being we are concentrating on our staff in Blackpool and the consultation process.”

The announcement follows TVR's plan to move production to another site in Blackpool. It said a few weeks ago that negotiations with the local council were underway. Given today's announcement, it's possible that agreement on the terms of this negotiation was never reached.


PistonHeads, which started as a site for TVR enthusiasts, will of course be following this story closely, and we'll bring you more details when we get them.


Meanwhile, our thoughts go to those whose livelihoods have been lost.

Well there goes another small British car maker. TVR was one of the nice brands for sports cars even if it was eccentric & unreliable. But they did produce some very stunning, powerful & fast cars. The British Auto cottage industry has been dying a slow death over the years but TVR was a company surviving for a long time & was recently starting to produce better cars with improved technology under the new Russian boss.

Sad to see it go from Britain, hopefully they'll exist in the long term elsewhere so maybe one day people like us can experience what owning a TVR is like.

P.S. Since diwali is near so God if you're listening I wouldn't mind a Red Sagaris please (with the side facing exhausts though!)

Source: pistonheads.com

[naveendhyani]

they make one of the most beautiful cars, sad to see the british hand made cars being lost to expected machine oriented europe.

[ranjan united]

Noooo!!! I am absolutely heart-broken .... NOT TVR !!!!