TVR edges back from the brink as the British sports car maker finds a new owner
One of Britain’s most colourful automotive names was close to shutting its workshop doors for good, yet a fresh chance has appeared on the horizon. According to Car Throttle, TVR has joined Charge Holdings, a group focused on low volume specialist brands, a move that could finally give the long stalled Griffith project a path to reality.
TVR unveiled the new Griffith in 2017 with bold talk of a return to its raw and driver focused style. The car promised a mix of classic V8 power and modern engineering. Reality proved less romantic. Financial trouble, departing executives and endlessly shifting production plans meant not a single customer car ever reached the road.
In 2019 the company claimed that production in Wales would ramp up to two thousand cars a year. Money dried up, leadership walked away and nothing happened. TVR even failed to file its accounts for 2024, leaving the brand a step away from disappearing altogether.
Charge Holdings, which also includes Charge Cars, the maker of electric restomods, wants to build a boutique manufacturing group with several distinct labels. TVR will take the role of the traditionalist, built on British craftsmanship, outspoken character and an engine that runs on petrol rather than electrons. The new Griffith stays loyal to combustion. The prototype used a five litre Ford V8 tuned by Cosworth to roughly five hundred horsepower.
The rescue of TVR under Charge is a telling moment for the entire small batch industry. Most niche makers are drifting toward electric power, while TVR clings to an analogue heartbeat. Everything now depends on whether the new owner can achieve what predecessors could not and turn a long standing promise into a functioning production line.
If it works, TVR could inject the British sports car scene with the dose of bravery and petrol fumes it has been missing. If it fails, the Griffith will become another chapter in a familiar story where the promises always sounded louder than the engine.
