TVR trademark up for sale

Top engine designer Al Melling has placed a bid for sports carmaker TVR's trademark, with an estimated £10 million on offer. Melling is the man behind the original AJP engine that was used for a number of TVR models over the past decade. He most recently made headlines with the introduction of the 1,200bhp quad-turbo Hellcat concept, but Melling still requires a factory to build it. This is where TVR steps in.

The TVR trademark is up for sale, but owning it will give the buyer access to the Blackpool manufacturing plant, equipment, fixtures and fittings as well as moulds and tooling for the Tuscan, Tamora, Sagaris and T350 line of cars. It’s thought that Melling would also like to return the TVR Griffith to production.

The owner of TVR, Russian tycoon Nikolai Smolenski, split the company in order to move production to Italy where new cars will be built by coachbuilder Bertone. The winning bid for the TVR trademark will be revealed on the 23rd of this month.