TVR's trademarks swiped from teenage Russian owner
The iconic British auto brand TVR will almost certainly not be making any more vehicles in the U.K. Instead, as the Independent reports, future models will most likely be built in Asia. Why? Because, Nikolai Smolensky, known as the "Baby oligarch," split off an administration arm from the company late last year. Just last Friday, that arm put the TVR name and some of it's tooling up for sale. Interested parties, apparently, include low-cost Asian companies.
This is something that has been happening to many storied motorcycle brands as of late, including Benelli, and some fabled car marques as well, such as MG. Will we be seeing any new models from TVR, and if we do, will they be Asian, Russian or British? Got us... wait and see right?
[Source: the Independent]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Howard Kerr 7:46AM (2/08/2007)
I guess I'm an idiot. A company splits-off it's ADMINISTRATIVE ARM and that makes it....... ?
I mean, let's say GM split off it's administrative arm, wouldn't the company either cease to exist as we know it (sort of like cutting the head off a chicken?) or it would be like any other multi-national with headquarters in one country and manufacturing in another (like Honda or Toyota?). Seriously, I don't understand what this really means.
Reply
Dirk 8:58AM (2/08/2007)
Stange. You seem to read things in the article in The Independent that are not there. I only read that the receivers from PKF now can sell the trademark TVR together with the rest of the assets and that there is a chance that TVR will stay in the UK.
Reply
doug 10:06AM (2/08/2007)
It's all legal mumbo jumbo. Suffice it to say, looks like he got bad advice from his business associates and they stole the TVR rights from him. Guess it pays to read the fine print in any contract.
So they own the name and intellectual rights, but he owns the equipment/factory. So basically he has to design/find a new car to produce or his equipment is useless.
Reply