Not a huge sum of money, but it does illustrate the pitfalls inherent in government support for risky projects:
Taxpayer-funded Welsh sports car factory still empty 12 months after refurbishment
British sports car brand TV has yet to formally sign the lease
A £12m taxpayer-funded sports car factory in Wales is still to make any cars a year after refurbishment.
It was hoped British sports car brand TVR, which is due to move into the site in Wales, would provide a boost to the local economy with plans to produce electric and V8 engine powered-models of its anticipated rear-wheel Griffith.
Some customers have put down £5,000 deposits for the car, plans for which were first unveiled in 2017, but the company is yet to formally sign the lease as remedial works are ongoing, the Telegraph understands.
It is also understood that the Welsh Government has not offered the lease to any other tenants, despite the money it has poured into the site and the factory being “ready for occupancy”.
The site was bought by the Welsh government in 2021 for £5.7m and refurbishments were completed last year at a cost of about £6.2m. About £7m of funding came from the authority’s £100m Tech Valleys programme to attract jobs to the Blaenau Gwent area which is north of Cardiff.
The precise amount the taxpayer has spent on the factory is unclear. According to a written answer to the Welsh Parliament by the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales in March 2020, renovating the factory cost £6.2m.
According to Land Registry documents the Welsh Government bought the Tech-board factory for £5.7m in January 2021, suggesting that the total cost could be £11.9m.
TVR insisted it had already occupied a part of the factory. TVR chairman Les Edgar said: “We have already occupied a portion of the factory. There are some remedial works required following the refurbishment which the Welsh Government are attending to.
“In the meantime, following our successful fund raise, we are progressing with our third-party partners on both ICE [internal combustion engine] and EV [electric vehicle] car development, and are not being held up in any way by the above.”
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “TVR identified a Welsh Government-owned property in Ebbw Vale as its preferred location for its new car production facility in south Wales. We remain closely engaged with the company for the leasing of the space, which we hope will be concluded in the very near future.
“The refurbished property is ready for occupancy and represents a fantastic investment opportunity in a region that boasts such strength in advanced manufacturing.”
Neither Mr Edgar nor the Welsh Government responded to questions about the basis on which the site was being occupied if the lease was yet to be signed.
Mr Edgar, a video games entrepreneur, bought TVR in 2013 from Russian Nikolay Smolensky. In 2017 he unveiled the Griffith, a front-engined, five-litre V8 with manual transmission and rear-wheel drive developed in collaboration with Gordon Murray – most famous for his work on McLaren’s 243mph F1 hypercar.
Since then the company has been trying to get the Griffith off the ground. Coronavirus shutdowns halted progress, but the company said last year it expects to put the model into production in 2024.
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