Uncertainty hangs over TVR as owners, workers and locals mull over the ramifications of the buy-back by the Blackpool firm's previous owner, Russian millionaire Nikolai Smolenski.
The main production company, which owned the physical assets and TVR's intellectual property, went into administration last year. An auction was held and a number of sealed envelope bids received, including one well-publicised offer from Rochdale-based sports car maker and engine designer Al Melling. Melling was co-creator of TVR's AJP engine, which eventually became the Speed Six.
However, it's emerged that Smolenski's own company also bid for TVR and has won, the amount paid is undisclosed.
Those most immediately affected are the company's ex-workers, who will be left with a bitter taste in their mouths -- they spent months waiting to hear their fate, and were eventually made redundant. However, whether they will ever receive any redundancy payments remains to be seen. As a result, local MPs have already asked for a government inquiry into the circumstances surrounding TVR's demise.
The firm's debts mean that ex-workers, suppliers and dealers are unlikely to receive much if anything. The workers' union reckoned that Smolenski is likely to be the main creditor but that he seemed uninterested in the workforce, and that they have been bounced out by some clever manoeuvring.
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