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Healey car to be reborn with Smart overhaul
By Christine Buckley, Industrial Editor
HEALEY, one of the classic names in British sports cars, is to be revived by a consortium including David James, the Conservative Party adviser and company doctor, The Times has learnt.
The Project Kimber consortium, which tried to acquire the assets of MG Rover and then the MG brand last year, has bought the Healey name from the family of Donald Healey, the rally driver and the business’s founder, who died in 1988.
The consortium plans to start production — possibly in Coventry — of a new retro-style sports car towards the end of next year, with an annual output of up to 15,000 cars and initially employing about 200 people.
Access Capital, a venture capital group working with the consortium, is believed to have secured funding of ÂŁ65 million for the first two years of the operation. Advantage West Midlands, the regional development agency, has offered ÂŁ1.95 million in grant aid for the scheme, the maximum that it is able to offer, for production to be based in an old Dunlop factory in Coventry.
However, locations in Germany and South Wales may be considered. The consortium is also awaiting the outcome of an application for assistance from the Department of Trade and Industry.
The new Healey car will be based on the technologies and designs of the Smart roadster car, which the consortium has bought from Mercedes, Smart’s owner.
The acquisition of the brand comes after the consortium’s failure to buy the MG name-badge from Nanjing Automotive Corporation, the Chinese owner of MG Rover’s assets. Nanjing has wanted to hold on to the badge in the hope of reviving car production at MG Rover’s former Longbridge plant, but it has yet to find a partner with sufficient investment to begin the project. In July, Nanjing either will have to pull out of a long-term lease with the Longbridge site’ s owner, the property company St Modwen, or commit to it fully.
The revival of Healey comes as TVR, another famous British sports car business, will hold talks with unions today over its plan to end production in Blackpool, where it has made cars for more than 30 years.
Donald Healey, a rally driver, began to build his own cars in 1946. He went on to run a small car works and, in 1952, his 100 model drew attention at the Earls Court show
Austin, the motor group, started to make the 100 at Longbridge, Birmingham, as the Austin Healey 100. It had a 2.6 litre engine.
In 1958 came the Sprite, called “Frog-Eyed” for the headlights bolted on to the bonnet. A more powerful version of the 100 — the Healey 3000 — followed
Austin Healeys ceased to be made in 1972. Jensen, the sports car company, revived the Healey name, but it collapsed in 1975
By Christine Buckley, Industrial Editor
HEALEY, one of the classic names in British sports cars, is to be revived by a consortium including David James, the Conservative Party adviser and company doctor, The Times has learnt.
The Project Kimber consortium, which tried to acquire the assets of MG Rover and then the MG brand last year, has bought the Healey name from the family of Donald Healey, the rally driver and the business’s founder, who died in 1988.
The consortium plans to start production — possibly in Coventry — of a new retro-style sports car towards the end of next year, with an annual output of up to 15,000 cars and initially employing about 200 people.
Access Capital, a venture capital group working with the consortium, is believed to have secured funding of ÂŁ65 million for the first two years of the operation. Advantage West Midlands, the regional development agency, has offered ÂŁ1.95 million in grant aid for the scheme, the maximum that it is able to offer, for production to be based in an old Dunlop factory in Coventry.
However, locations in Germany and South Wales may be considered. The consortium is also awaiting the outcome of an application for assistance from the Department of Trade and Industry.
The new Healey car will be based on the technologies and designs of the Smart roadster car, which the consortium has bought from Mercedes, Smart’s owner.
The acquisition of the brand comes after the consortium’s failure to buy the MG name-badge from Nanjing Automotive Corporation, the Chinese owner of MG Rover’s assets. Nanjing has wanted to hold on to the badge in the hope of reviving car production at MG Rover’s former Longbridge plant, but it has yet to find a partner with sufficient investment to begin the project. In July, Nanjing either will have to pull out of a long-term lease with the Longbridge site’ s owner, the property company St Modwen, or commit to it fully.
The revival of Healey comes as TVR, another famous British sports car business, will hold talks with unions today over its plan to end production in Blackpool, where it has made cars for more than 30 years.
Donald Healey, a rally driver, began to build his own cars in 1946. He went on to run a small car works and, in 1952, his 100 model drew attention at the Earls Court show
Austin, the motor group, started to make the 100 at Longbridge, Birmingham, as the Austin Healey 100. It had a 2.6 litre engine.
In 1958 came the Sprite, called “Frog-Eyed” for the headlights bolted on to the bonnet. A more powerful version of the 100 — the Healey 3000 — followed
Austin Healeys ceased to be made in 1972. Jensen, the sports car company, revived the Healey name, but it collapsed in 1975
