Revitalised TVR will bring four new sports car to market, starting in 2017, with power from a Cosworth-tuned V8 and design input from Gordon Murray
After a wait of nearly 10 years, the long-promised, all-new TVR sports car is uncovered today, designed by engineering guru Gordon Murray, powered by a unique, hugely powerful Cosworth V8 engine and backed by an ambitious and well-funded ownership team.
In an exclusive meeting with Autocar a few days ago, the iconic sports car marque’s backers - fronted by computer gaming entrepreneur Les Edgar - spelled out the first details of a 10-year plan that will put at least four new TVRs on the road from 2017.
The intention is to re-establish the marque in the same performance-minded, driver-centric territory from which it departed nine years ago, when production ceased at its former factory in Blackpool.
Although radical in design and new in every detail, the reborn TVR car range is aimed both at the powerful and demanding band of existing TVR aficionados that has never gone away - not least because most members of the company’s backing consortium are members themselves - and a new generation seeking an affordable supercar that can be driven every day.
Prices won’t be decided until much nearer launch date, but the intention is to “take up where the previous range left off”.
Volume targets are also still being decided, but since the company plans to be guided by TVR’s numbers in its healthy years, an output of 1000 to 1500 units a year looks likely.
“This is a unique opportunity to be part of the revival of a great British marque,” said TVR operations director John Chasey. “We are a well-funded, well-supported organisation that boasts a vastly experienced management team and a clear 10-year master plan for both product and business development.”
Edgar, Chasey and Murray all have extensive connections with sports car racing, especially at Le Mans, and even at this early stage the car is being configured with a racing life in view. Customers, the partners believe, will be as keen on competition as they are.
The company currently operates from premises near Guildford but plans a ‘proper’ headquarters wherever it decides to build its cars.
Edgar said his partners are resolved to make TVRs in the UK but the factory location won’t be decided until they have assessed the logistics of their manufacturing process, plus regional development schemes and skill and supplier bases.
The investor group, which consists of about a dozen well-heeled individuals, was formed two years ago to buy TVR from Russian oligarch Nikolai Smolenski, who nearly drove it to ruin.
The group is proud of its recent success at keeping a low profile while laying plans to produce cars whose profile and pricing “will be consistent with TVR’s past market positioning and highly competitive within its field”.
Two distinct models have been designed and are closely related under the skin. Each will be available in coupé and convertible variants. Both cars’ styling is the work of a British design consultancy whose identity TVR bosses decline to reveal for now.
The new TVRs will be similar in their major dimensions to outgoing models of the mid-2000s such as the Tuscan and Sagaris, with the same built-in two-seater simplicity and lightness, although there will be no common components with the old models. The new cars’ construction elements and techniques will be completely different.
The mechanical design of the cars, which has taken place at the premises of Gordon Murray Design (GMD) in Shalford, Surrey, is nearly complete. The new TVRs, all V8s, will have a front mid-engined layout and feature six-speed manual gearboxes, rear-wheel drive, all-independent suspension and driver-focused interiors
The deals with GMD and Cosworth were concluded about a year ago. The new TVR model range is likely to be the first in the world to use GMD’s unique iStream manufacturing process, which dramatically simplifies car construction and reduces the size of the assembly plant infrastructure while offering big benefits in cabin packaging, chassis rigidity and crash protection.
The basis of the chassis is formed by a structure of fairly big-diameter steel tubes, with ultra-light composite panels bonded in to boost rigidity. The construction method was pioneered on
Murray’s T25 and
T27 city cars, which demonstrated remarkable rigidity in crash tests. Materials for the outer panels are still being decided, but a combination of aluminium and composite parts is likely.
“We’re very pleased with the way iStream, which was designed for volume projects, can be adapted to applications like this one,” said Murray. “It still delivers all the efficiency advantages it was designed to do.”
The new TVR engines will be based on a proprietary V8 block that has been developed into a unique unit at specialist manufacturer Cosworth’s Northampton factory, where the firm’s Formula 1 engines were built. Comprehensive modifications have been developed for the base units, whose exhausts exit as side pipes just behind the front wheels.
The partners are reluctant to reveal more at this stage except to confirm that the engine management system, and therefore the engine’s essential character, will be unique to TVR.
Edgar and his partners are well aware of the manufacturing quality concerns that dogged TVR in the old days but believe the combination of modern design, a far more streamlined manufacturing process, modern materials and Murray’s attention to detail will help the company avoid past mistakes.
Because the TVR investors have only just begun setting up the company’s structure, launch details remain sketchy. Expect models to appear one by one from 2017, with sales in the UK and northern Europe the initial priority.
New TVR - what to expect
With two years to go until the launch, a factory location still to be decided and a management still facing big decisions, the new TVR’s final mechanical layout is not set in stone. However, if you read the signs, it’s possible to take a stab at what the car could be like beneath its inspirational surfaces.
Styling
Modern designs, consistent in dimensions and major features to the admired shapes produced under TVR’s proprietor before last, Peter Wheeler. No attempt to replicate the old shapes, but the DNA will be obvious.
Model
No decision yet. TVR bosses have some iconic names at their disposal (Griffith, Tuscan, Grantura among others) but are deciding if numbers and letters (T350) would build a more logical lineage. Our bet: Griffith.
Chassis
Tubular steel frame requiring very few stamped panels, built by Gordon Murray’s iStream principle, with composite panels strategically bonded in to provide extreme rigidity. Murray-designed all-independent suspension (possibly double wishbones) with power steering and race-derived disc brakes.
Body
Major panels formed mostly in a variety of composite materials, but with some aluminium components, which in some cases can be lighter than composite. All-up weight planned at about 1100kg, depending on variant, which with chassis rigidity should be a big asset in race applications.
Aerodynamics
Flat-bottomed chassis (allowed by front side exhausts) with splitter and rear diffuser will deliver true on-road downforce, which can be enhanced in racing versions. Initial design has been tested by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and via a scale model in a moving-floor wind tunnel.
Powertrain
Cosworth-developed V8 of unspecified origin, probably Chevrolet or (more likely) Ford. TVR will not go down Wheeler’s path of building its own engine. A decent bet would be the Ford Mustang’s 4951cc unit, which produces 415bhp in standard form. Expect 450-470bhp, plus a magnificent exhaust note, after the Cosworth ministrations and you won’t be far wrong. Six-speed manual gearbox as standard.
Performance
With 450bhp-plus in a 1100kg structure, the TVR should be extremely fast. Look for 0-60mph in under four seconds and a top speed of more than 185mph. That’s before the likely extra-power (and possibly extra-light) versions arrive. TVR is renowned for performance, and the new backers aredetermined not to disappoint.
Dynamics
Dry-sumped engine, mounted low and well back in the chassis, should allow the ultra-low centre of gravity and rearward weight bias (say 47% front, 53% rear) deemed ideal for a car of this layout. TVR is still deciding what electronic aids the car needs, but ESP and ABS are certainties because of legislation. Whether the ESP is configurable, as in latest Lotus, Ferrari and Porsche models, is an open question.
Sales volume
In its very best years, TVR claimed to make 2000 cars a year, but 1000 a year was much more typical. We’d expect the new company, helped by the efficiency of the iStream manufacturing process, to ramp up to 1000 units and eventually to push beyond it. But the consortium well understands that the European market for such cars is small (50,000-80,000 units per year) and is deliberately targeting a small percentage.
Pricing
When TVRs disappeared from sale, mainstream models were in the £40,000s, with the most expensive model touching £57,000. A Porsche Boxster cost £40k (now more like £50k). Given that the new company wants new-wave TVRs to be as accessible, broadly speaking, as the old ones, a starting price of about £60,000 seems likely, with performance extras boosting prices towards £80,000.
