TVR back from the grave

Amidst the hoopla over the ( latest) return of British sportscar brand TVR, much has been made of the specs attached to the justunveiled Griffith, which is due to go into production towards the back end of 2018.

We’ll take a look at those in a moment, but what causes the Good Oil office to resort to a bout of exaggerated eye- rolling is the suggestion that the Griffith is the first step in an ambitious 10- year plan for a range of cars.

TVR just can’t help itself. Because we’ve been here before.

TVR really does want to make another concerted go of it as a niche sportscar manufacturer with a slew of hinted- at model announcements. Because that worked out well for Lotus, right?

TVR says it will launch ‘ R’ and ‘ S’ performance derivatives of the Griffith soon, along with a convertible version and even an all- new model during the next decade. It will also develop a race car programme to push into new European territories and has hinted at a lengthened 2+ 2 version of the Griffith as well.

For a car company that hasn’t produced anything anyone could buy for a decade or more, even a convertible version of the Griffith, let alone the promise of a new car as well, is the equivalent of manufacturing warp- speed.

The Griffith, which is shorter than both the current Porsche 911 and Jaguar F- Type ( cars it will be looking to lure cashed- up enthusiast drivers away from) does look like it will be an entertaining muscle car. It will feature a Cosworth- tuned Ford Mustang 5.0- litre V8, which TVR says is good for 372kW, a sub- four second sprint from zero to 100km/ h and a top speed over 320km/ h.

Launch Editions of the car, of which an optimistic 500 will be made, will be priced from £ 90,000 ($ 164,000). We’re hoping they manage to make 500 before everything falls over again. Whether we ever see a Griffith here is doubtful because the Griffith will probably fail to meet crash and/ or drive- by noise regulations for many markets – ours included.