It's infuriating. Why is it us Brits are so utterly incapable of running a bl**dy car company? The Japanese can do it, the Germans can do it, the Americans can do it. Bl**dy hell, even the French can just about manage it and they're so militant I'm surprised they ever bother getting out of bed in the morning.
Shame on us. We're all so busy getting in a lather about what kinds of hats people should be allowed to wear and whether or not it's okay for Pop stars to be importing Africans we've forgotten to actually do anything.
_________________________ "Forward", he cried, from the rear, and the front rank died. And the General sat, and the lines on the map moved from side to side.
TVR has been a poor company for years making cheap nasty and old cars with zero traction give me a 997 Turbo anyday with power windows. Stupid British companies cant make cars you want a Musstang.
They are producing an awful product that no one is buying. Does it take 250 people to build 2 cars a week? None of this is a good basis for a sound business.
The problem is the that us Brits seem to get wound-up about really trivial things (the media plays a BIG role in doing this) but ignore important things.
People get wound about trying to keep pounds and ounces yet buy fruit and veg grown in France or Spain or Holland.
People get wound up about having the blue EU/GB thing on your numberplate and want to proudly display the English flag on their German or Italian or French made car.
The fact that they are planning to build their cars abroad does not make them a non British company. Many British companies do this as it is too expensive to build in the UK. Have a look at your Hi Fi some time and you will see that reputable UK names such as NAD and PURE are designed in the UK and built abroad.
Originally posted by sunsurfer: The fact that they are planning to build their cars abroad does not make them a non British company. Many British companies do this as it is too expensive to build in the UK. Have a look at your Hi Fi some time and you will see that reputable UK names such as NAD and PURE are designed in the UK and built abroad.
You have a point. But I have doubts. For me TVR means stunning design and outrageous performance for a fraction of the big boys prices. A good racing history and no namby pamby driver aids, among other things as well. I fear that this move abroad is just another smoke screen from the new owner.
I wonder if there is much of a future for TVR. With a terrible reputation for reliability and dwindling sales, moving production overseas will not solve the problems in the short and medium term.
What they need to do is address the current problems which are dominated by quality assurance issues: biuld the cars better and make sure their customers know it (doing the former and not the latter will not help).
The range seems to have changed little since their resurgence at the end of the 80s. All noise and speed. That maybe what driving should be about, but in the real world, people buy cars that are more rounded. Whether you like Porsches or not, you can't deny they can be used every day in all weather conditions. The same can't really be said of a TVR.
I guess what they really need s a huge pile of cash, understanding bankers and a limitless R&D budget.
Anyway, I wish them well and I hope this isn't the next stage of their terminal decline. Only a 426 hemi sounds better than a Tuscan in the Blackwall tunnel!
That also fall to bits Seriously, TVR make drop dead stunning cars that ooze panache, but their quality is dire and these days trying to sell a car on lairey tail happy handling is just an admission of mediocre chassis and handling development. I find the German cars boring and over common, but at least if you buy a BMW it should get you from A to B without breaking down, will handle superbly and be very well engineered. TVR were just like a kit car on steroids, sad but true.
i used to be a massive tvr fan...until one day in a car showroom when i saw a year old tamora with 6k miles next to a 7 year old boxster with 40k miles.....the tvr had build quality issues you wouldnt put up with in a secondhand perodua nippa and the porsche looked like new......fantastic cars when they go but in this day and age such shoddy build quality cannot be tolerated as part of a cars 'character'.....hard nosed business people laughed at the sentiment displayed by the british public over the mg rover debacle saying that the cars were simply not good enough to compete so the company deserved to go bust...lets not get misty eyed over tvr, its exactly the same problem.....
The way dreadful build quality and reliability from hell is sometimes turned into a virtue as showing "character" by some car enthusiasts makes me laugh, it's just an attempt to rationalise liking junk. If Honda can make a car like the S2000 revving to 9000rpm punching 240BHP from a normally aspirated 2.0 with clockwork reliability, or Porsche can make cars that go on and on and on and on and on and on with superlative performance then there is just no excuse for the sort of mediocre quality of a TVR, especially not at their prices.
i BET you wouldnt if you had too live with one...and it was yer own hard earned dosh.....sure it will destroy its rivals in a straight line..if it decides to go that day....
Originally posted by biggbn: i BET you wouldnt if you had too live with one...and it was yer own hard earned dosh.....sure it will destroy its rivals in a straight line..if it decides to go that day....
ok...il be the grinning idiot in the 400 quid beemer passing you as you sit on the hard shoulder, having just decimated everything off the slip road...then broken down...again..., with your bonnet up pondering on the electrical/fuel/skyhook problem that has left you stranded....again......but hey, at least you will be enjoying the 'character' of the car from that exquisitely crafted cabin with its quaint fibreglass aroma and glue stains...toot toot.....
Originally posted by biggbn: ok...il be the grinning idiot in the 400 quid beemer passing you as you sit on the hard shoulder, having just decimated everything off the slip road...then broken down...again..., with your bonnet up pondering on the electrical/fuel/skyhook problem that has left you stranded....again......but hey, at least you will be enjoying the 'character' of the car from that exquisitely crafted cabin with its quaint fibreglass aroma and glue stains...toot toot.....
For crying out loud, Where have am I stating its infallibility? For what it is worth I see BMW get a lift home quite often so am I to assume they are all dire? I like the car. You like BM then fine, carry on. I like to to have fun. Which bit of that do you have a problem with?
lighten up bro...jus having a bit of fun....oh and im no bmw fanboy, generally cant stand the damn things...but it was cheap, its got a good heater and it keeps the rain off......my point is that i really dont believe you, or anyone, would be happy if your 50k plus supercar broke down...even once.....and why should you be......we dont put up with breakdowns in 6k kias etc...why should we put up with em in the supercar sector.....strangely, higher mileage well used tvrs are the way to go...these cars have been regularly used and exercised and as a result generally dont suffer infuriating faults like lightly used 'toys'.........
Apologies, didn't spot the light hearted poke at airfix kits.......
And 50k for a Cerbera? Are they still on the books for new? Used are a lot cheaper than that but seriously, I would still have one. Being a sucker for punishment as my last reply shows...
A great shame to see another blow to British engineering. Like Concorde, etc - a thing of the past.
However, unlike concorde, the TVR models were rubbish.
Sadly a victim of its own appallingness, im pretty sure they wont open a new factory anywhere & that is the end of TVR for good. You dont see very many of them, theyre outdated, hard work to drive & extremely unreliable, crude & noisy, not to mention woefully ugly and plasticky.
Yes theyre a bit cheaper than their rivals but that kind of shoddy rubbish isnt acceptable at any price - and todays sportscar buyer wants something sophisticated & stylish rather than ugly and brutish.
I do have sympathy with the workers who tried their best & have to find employment elsewhere, but Trevor himself was responsible for the cars being so awful. He once said when turning down a deal from Bosch to supply electronic components (broad lancashire accent) "Im not having anything foreign in my bl**dy cars"
So as a result they broke down and were rubbish.
And driven by rottweiler-owning meatheads on council estates.
