TVR Plotting MG Takeover

One is on the up, the other is currently down and out - but are two of the most famous sports car manufacturers in Britain about to join forces?

Auto Express Car Reviews

By Paul Bailey

01st June 2005

Rumours are rife that TVR bosses are poised to launch an audacious bid to take what's left of MG from the gloom of the administrator and restart production. But that's not all; the plan would see the firm quitting its seaside factory in Blackpool, Lancashire, and moving lock, stock and barrel to the mothballed Longbridge site in Birmingham.

The amazing story is one of several in circulation about what's going to happen to MG Rover and its axed workforce. But this prediction of the future has been given a boost in credibility from an unlikely but highly placed source. Auto Express has learned that one of the most senior people involved with the failed Midlands company has thrown his weight behind the deal. He won't go public with his views, but is understood to have first-hand evidence of the ambitious plan.

Also in its favour are the deep pockets of TVR's new owner, the Russian multi-millionaire businessman Nicolai Smolensky. After his surprise purchase of the sports car maker last year, he is believed to be looking for a way out of the ageing Blackpool facility to take the company forward.

While the Longbridge plant is celebrating its centenary this year, it's a far more modern, hi-tech operation than TVR's current home. Smolensky is said to be waiting to see how much money it will take to secure the rights to build the MG TF and buy the tooling. Neither TVR or MG Rover administrator PriceWaterhouseCoopers would comment.

MG and TVR have linked up before. During its nine years in production, between 1958 and 1967, TVR's Gran Tura coup΃© was fitted with various MG engines and transmissions, with the MkIII car getting the entire MGB gearbox.