Just 48 hours after Nikolai Smolenski, the Chairman and Owner of Blackpool, UK-based specialist sports car manufacturer TVR, announced that the firm would be moving its production facilities to mainland Europe, the English media is awash with rumours that Bertone are set to build the 2007 Model Year Sagaris and Tuscan models in Turin. Speculation has raged since the announcement as to the whereabouts of relocation site, with Russia being the most favoured choice. However Bertone has been mentioned and this morning weekly UK motoring magazine Autocar has posted a brief report on their website quoting 'unnamed sources' as stating that a deal with the Italian firm has been done.

TVR has been in big trouble ever since Smolenski took over the Blackpool-based sports car maker in July 2004. TVR was originally founded by Trevor Wilkinson in 1947 and started life making kitcars; however it really prospered in the 1980s after it was bought by English businessman Peter Wheeler. Under the new ownership of 24-year-old Smolenski, dubbed in the Russian press as the "Baby Oligarch", production has dwindled to almost a standstill. Plans to keep manufacturing in the North West of England were announced several months ago, with a new Blackpool location mooted, but in a statement released on Wednesday the Russian, who is Chairman of TVR, said: "We are extremely sorry that, after a period of uncertainty and raised hopes that we could continue production ourselves in Blackpool, we have had to make this decision. "We need to secure the future of the company and move it forward. I am afraid we see no other way to do so."

While the 'fit' between TVR and Bertone seems an unlikely one, the historic Italian design and engineering concern is presently casting around for large new projects and Smolenski needs to salvage something out of the TVR situation with a fresh start. The effective outsourcing specialist car production has recent parallels: the Banbury, UK-based Prodrive concern builds the new breed of Marcos sports cars. TVR's current high-performance model range is led out by its newest model, the dramatic 4-litre straight-six Sagaris which features in their own words, 'Le Mans inspired' styling: swooping bodywork and lots of air vents. It achieves the dash from 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, has a 'red line' close to 8,000rpm, and reaches a top speed in excess of 160 mph. The range up to the tailing off of production this year was completed by the Tuscan, Tuscan Convertible, T350 and Tamora.
 

TVR also has an outsouced engine building agreement in place. In late August it was announced that it has signed a 'Heads of Agreement' with automotive engineering giant Ricardo plc, to develop the TVR 'Speed Six' engine to be Euro 5 (LEVII) compliant. Ricardo is one of the world’s leading powertrain, driveline and transmission technology providers. Combining business, product and process strategy with fundamental technical research and the implementation of large-scale new product development programmes, Ricardo is able to take on the greatest challenges in the industry including engine, transmission and driveline design, engineering, testing and systems integration.