TVR to close Blackpool car factory By Christine Buckley, Industrial Editor TVR, Britain’s biggest independent sports car maker, is to close its Blackpool factory within six months amid fears that it will shift all its production overseas. The news came a week after Peugeot said that it would end carmaking in Britain next year. TVR, which is owned by Nikolai Smolenski, the Russian entrepreneur, met unions yesterday after sending out more than 70 lay-off notices to employees among its 260-strong workforce. The company said that it would continue to operate. Research and development and headquarters would remain in Britain, but no decision had been reached on a new factory. It did not know where it would site any new factory, although it had a number of offers, including a location in Wales. A spokesman said that some sub-assembly would be done overseas, but unions fear that most of the manufacturing and the new factory will go overseas. The two sides meet again next week. TVR has been manufacturing in Blackpool for more than 30 years and once was a by-word for sports car desirability. Lately, however, sales have fallen. Other car manufacturers would find it difficult to switch production to a new site in such a short time, but TVR’s small-scale method of production does not depend on heavy engineering and production lines. Andy Robertson, the T&G union’s industrial organiser covering TVR, said: “They blamed everything from the fall in demand for sports cars to the British weather. This is a blow for Blackpool and a further blow for carmaking in the UK.” The T&G said that the news was a shock for the workforce, which had worked hard to keep the company going through recent months and had accepted wage freezes. Production is thought to have fallen from 12 cars a week to two at some points, although the company said that recent production had been six a week. TVR said that it expected to give more details to unions next Wednesday. A spokesman said: “We are not closing, we are just moving production.” Richard Burden, MP, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Motor Group, said: “There are more niche sports car producers in Britain than anywhere else and companies such as Caterham are very successful. But it is worrying if TVR are going.” Niche sports car production is seen by many as important not only for the prestige of the cars and the brands but for the research and industrial development crossover with other industries. Much of the technology is used in sports racing car manufacturing and Formula One development and also in the aerospace industry. Chris Aylett, chief executive of the Motorsport Industry Association, said that labour costs should not be an issue in high-added-value processes such as sports car production. “Labour rates are important in mass production, but they don’t count as much for niche speciality sporting cars. They only account for about 15 per cent of the costs of producing a car.” Mr Aylett said that sports car production had been a cornerstone of the motor industry and had held up well as volume carmakers had suffered high-profile problems and closures.
