Recently saved from certain death, British sports car manufacturer TVR has provided a glimpse of its upcoming coupe at the London Auto Show.
The model will potentially be dubbed Griffith, a heritage-laced nameplate used on a series of TVR models built during the 1960s, and again in the 1990s. A lone teaser image suggests the Griffith will eschew a full-on retro design and instead adopt a futuristic look, but it won’t be anywhere near as wild-looking as the last cars the company built before it filed for bankruptcy in 2013. While the teaser only shows the front end, TVR has confirmed the model will take the form of an aerodynamic two-seater coupe.
As previously reported, power for the Griffith will be provided by a naturally-aspirated 5.0-liter V8 engine borrowed from the Ford parts bin and tweaked by renown tuner Cosworth. The eight-cylinder motor will be mounted longitudinally between the front fenders, and it will spin the rear wheels via an enthusiast-friendly manual transmission. TVR expects the Griffith will be capable of performing the benchmark zero-to-60-mph sprint in less than four seconds, a figure that will put it in the same performance league as high-end models built by big names like Porsche, Aston Martin, and Mercedes-AMG. Top speed will check in at over 200 mph.
Much like Tesla, TVR is taking an unorthodox approach to selling cars, and it has paid off so far. The company is currently accepting £5,000 (roughly $7,200) deposits from customers, and it’s promising to begin delivering cars in 2017. The firm will reward early adopters by building the first few Griffiths with a chassis made out of carbon fiber. TVR promises each example will cost less than £100,000 (about $144,000), but interested parties need to act fast because the Launch Edition model is nearly sold out.
Buyers who want to spend less can put a deposit down on the regular Griffith, which is expected to start in the vicinity of £65,000 (approximately $95,000). The carbon fiber chassis will be offered at an extra cost, and deliveries aren’t expected to start until 2018 at the earliest. Both models will be manufactured at an unspecified location in the UK.
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TVR boss Les Edgar told British magazine Auto Express that the Griffith will make its official debut “in the coming months at a public event.” That’s not a lot to go on, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see the coupe break cover at the Goodwood Festival of Speed that will take place late next month. Held annually, Goodwood is incontestably England’s biggest motorsport-related event.
