revival of old brands

Old brands such as TVR and Bristol are making a come back and hopefully it is one that will see them stay afloat for more than just a decade or so. In recent news investors have revived TVR and Bristol brand. Both are known for specialist design sports cars with character.

TVR was previously owned by a Russian whizkid who invested heavily in the company in the attempt to turn it around but the revival was short lived. TVR had the potential to grow but it didn't have the right model mix. TVR being a sports car manufacturer the timing was also wrong. At a time where sports cars business was not exactly thriving TVR was focusing too much on sports cars. TVR could very well make a sports saloon which would appeal to more people. Making only sports cars the appeal was limited to those looking to buy a sports car. If TVR offered a M5 rival or even a smaller M3 rival it could possible stay afloat since it would appeal to a much wider customer base.

Bristol is no different since it focused only on building sports cars. The similarity of both brands and they way the did business really led to their demise.

These two car brands do have their following and hopefully they are able to turn a profit with careful product planning and appealing to a wider customer group. They can still be specialist in the sports car field but having additional models will not hurt. Just like how Porsche turned from a sports car maker into a major luxury brand is enough proof to justify this. Porsche makes more money now than ever before and the profits come from the non sports car models. Porsche still keeps true to its sports car heritage by making the cars sporty to drive and driver focused, this can also be done for TVR and Bristol.

It will be interesting to see how TVR and Bristol can turn around. It will take time for them to develop new models and take some risk on non sports car models. It would take at least 3-5 years to see any significant results.