Marcos is back! British sportscar brand’s big plan, and swirling controversy

TVR has been promising it will make a comeback for several years now, but while British sports car fans continue to hold their breath for that, another forgotten name from the history books has been resurrected. Marcos has returned and it's got big things already in the works.

In case you’re not familiar with Marcos, the company was founded in 1959 – a couple of years after Lotus was born. The founders were Jem Marsh and Frank Costin, who combined their surnames to form the brand's name. Its first creation was the Marcos Xylon: a very unconventional-looking two-seat sports car that earned the nickname ‘Ugly Duckling’. 

It was designed to go racing, rather than win beauty pageants, with Formula One champion Jackie Stewart and five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell at the wheel. The car’s name means ‘wood’ in Greek, because the chassis was actually made from timber, Marcos going further down the arboreal route than Morgan, which only uses wood for the body frame of its cars.

After that in 1963, the Marcos GT arrived with an elegant design reminiscent of the Jaguar E-Type and other now-iconic sports cars. While it initially got a Volvo four-cylinder engine, a 3.0-litre Ford V6 would eventually be fitted under the extremely long bonnet. 

Then in 1965, the Mini Macros was launched. As the name suggests, this was based on the running gear and underpinnings of the original Mini, but it wasn’t nearly as cute – or a very pleasant sight at all, really. Rather bafflingly, the two-metre-long coupe was entered in the 24 Hours of Le Mans that year and was the only British car to cross the finish line.

Marcos launched several other models after this, mostly sticking to the classic British sports car formula. The company was forced into liquidation and closed its doors in 1972 but was revived about a decade later. It then went bankrupt in 2000. 

The brand name would be revived by a new company in 2002, which managed to launch two models before also ceasing production in 2007. All of which brings us to the Marcos of today.

The future of Marcos

Marcos and all the original assets of the brand were purchased in 2022 by businessman Howard Nash, and now the Marcus Motor Company has outlined three big projects. It’s not hanging about either, as physical prototypes for the all-new cars are already in development. 

“[Marcos] has a wonderful history but also an ethos of simplicity for raw, driver-focused handling,” said Nash, “It’s an analogue experience you can’t get from large car manufacturers and supercar brands, and one which I think enthusiasts hanker after today. We want to honour that original ethos while being forward-looking too, giving Marcos a new, younger audience, as well as bringing the brand back for those who grew up with it.”

Project #1, as it’s being referred to, is a “faithful reimagining of a much-loved Marcos model with a recognisable silhouette but a contemporary platform and drivetrain”. That’s not much to go on, but we feel it’s more likely to be a brawny rear-drive sports car than a reborn Mini Macros.

Project #2 is a totally-new vehicle with potential for both road and track. Marcos says this particular car “will owe nothing to legacy Marcos models but will honour the brand ethos of light weight, simplicity and seat-of-the-pants handling”. It sounds like fun, plus a rolling chassis has now been engineered, built and crash tested.

Finally, Project #3 is for continuation cars. Because the Marcos Motor Company owns the original body moulds and tooling for almost every model in the Marcos back catalogue, it can deliver “faithful contemporary versions.” The company will continue providing parts and maintenance to existing owners as well through its Heritage Spares arm.

What’s it got to do with the Rich Energy guy?

This is actually the second time we’ve heard about the resurrection of Marcos recently, because it was announced that the name would be returning about a month previously. That news, however, came from an entirely different company, owned by completely different people. Confused? So are we.

William Storey, CEO of ‘Marcos Cars Limited’, shared in May that his brand would be launching a “new F1 inspired supercar” this November. Supposedly, the car will be designed and built in Britain, with him also boasting that “Ferrari and Lamborghini are in our sights”.

The name William Storey will be familiar to fans of Formula One because he’s also the CEO and founder of energy drink company Rich Energy: the scandal-hit title sponsor of the Haas Formula One team for some of the 2019 campaign. 

In case you haven’t heard this story before, after being disappointed by Haas’s performance, Rich Energy abruptly ended the partnership less than half way through the 2019 season, announcing the news on its twitter page. Storey then compared the team’s race car to a “milk float” in an interview, however, as we understand it, he was removed as CEO of Rich Energy shortly after the debarcel. Haas also reportedly sought £35million in damages from the company.

Back to the present, Storey has called the announcements made by the Marcus Motor Company and its owner Howard Nash “misleading”, posting on Linkedin that “to be absolutely clear: Marcos Cars Limited is the legal owner of the Marcos brand.

“Our new supercar is the only genuine new Marcos vehicle. We are focused on the future of British performance engineering not on rehashing the past.”

Mark Carbery, board advisor to Marcus Motor Company, responded to Storey’s allegations, saying: “Marcos Motor Company Ltd owns the original assets of the Marcos brand, dating back to 1959. Body moulds, toolings, jigs, drawings and CAD, production rights, brand rights, trademarks, records of almost every vehicle ever made, the still-trading Marcos Heritage Spares operation, and legacy entities including Marcos Engineering and Marcos Sales. You name it. 

“Just a point to clarify. Someone out there is making claims to the brand and its heritage, and of being CEO of an official Marcos enterprise. He's posted to that effect on LinkedIn and on the socials. His enterprise does not have the assets or the rights.”

He continued, “Unfortunately, however, the claims led some people to mistakenly associate him with Marcos Motor Company and our assets. He's not associated with us in any way.” 

With no less than two possible comebacks apparently on the cards, the Marcos saga will no doubt continue. Stay tuned to see how it develops. 

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