The renaissance of the British car industry clicked into another gear, and the emergence of the Welsh automotive industry went into overdrive, when TVR said that it would open a car plant next door to the new Aston Martin factory in Glamorgan (Robert Lea writes).
It is understood that TVR, one of the myriad, niche, sports car-making brands of Britain, is to begin production of a new model in St Athan in south Wales, the location chosen by Aston Martin last month for a new factory.
The new venture in league with Cosworth, the famed enginemaker, and Gordon Murray, the former Formula one designer, aims to revive TVR, a company that went into administration ten years ago. TVR, which was created and developed in Blackpool by the late Trevor Wilkinson, was bought in 2013 by Les Edgar, a computer games developer who made his fortune selling his studio to Electronic Arts 20 years ago. It was owned previously by Nikolai Smolensky, the Russian investor.
Aston Martin is to use a redundant Ministry of Defence super-hangar at the old RAF St Athan to produce its new £160,000 DBX model from 2020, aimed at young wealthy families.
The arrival of TVR alongside Aston Martin would transform the region, Garel Rhys, of the Cardiff Business Scool and chairman of the St Athan enterprise zone, said.
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“What we’d like to see is a cluster of inward investment, a halo effect in an area with the right facilities and the right skills,” Professor Rhys added.
“If you take the economic multipliers [on the planned direct employment], we are talking about 3,000 to 4,000 jobs.”
The news comes soon after the decision to cut 750 jobs at the giant Port Talbot steelworks.
Though cars have never been made in volumes in Wales, the principality has a long history of automotive investment, with engine manufacturing plants of Ford at Bridgend and Toyota on Deeside.
In an interview last year, Mr Edgar said: “The core function of the cars will be to be an exhilarating, challenging sports car. How we compare with Porsche, Ferrari or Jaguar comes down to soul. It’s the soul that differentiates us from mass-produced sports cars.”