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Bristol Cars placed into administration

By Tim Beissmann |

Luxury British automobile manufacturer Bristol Cars has been placed into administration, with 22 of the marque’s 27 employees made redundant late last week.

Bristol Cars has been hand-building vehicles at its Filton factory in Bristol since 1946 and is the last wholly British owned luxury car manufacturer.

At its height, Bristol was believed to be selling around 200 cars per year (it has withheld sales figures since 1982) and had waiting lists of 18 months. Famous Bristol owners include Bono, Tina Turner, Liam Gallagher and Sir Richard Branson.

In recent years, however, sales are believed to have decreased to only around 20 vehicles per year out of its one and only UK showroom on High Street in London.

It currently sells four different vehicles: the Fighter, Blenheim, Blenheim Speedster and the Series 6. Each of them is styled to look like it comes from a different era, ranging from the ’60s to the ’90s, although its lack of a vehicle that belongs in 2011 is among its downfalls.

RSM Tenon’s Tom MacLennan and Trevor Binyon were appointed as administrators on Friday as production was suspended, and remain hopeful of getting Bristol Cars back on track.

“While there have been a number of immediate redundancies due to the financial position of the company, we are maintaining the sales and service operations so customers will continue to be supported,” Mr MacLennan told the BBC.

“We would urge any interested parties to make contact with us as quickly as possible and are confident that we can secure the future of this iconic British brand.”

At the very least, the Blenheim models are expected to be killed off, although the ultra-performance Fighter models have a better chance of being saved.

The current Bristol Fighter T is one of the wildest production vehicles in history.

Powered by an 8.0-litre all-aluminium V10 engine, it produces 755kW of power and 1405Nm of torque. Acceleration from 0-100km/h comes up in less than 3.5 seconds and, despite being limited to 362km/h, Bristol says the Fighter T would be capable of more than 435km/h (quicker than the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport’s 431km/h record).


 
  • Homer

    Sad to see anyone lose their jobs, hopefully, these skilled tradespeople will always be in need BUT how did this dinosaur of a car company last this long anyhow!

  • Henry F

    Surely there can’t be too many of the classic, independent British brands left over now. A shame considering the British motor industry was one of the biggest in the world and failed to adapt.

  • http://www.caradvice.com.au Anthony Crawford

    Hardly surprising, yet also sad that another bespoke British marque bites the dust. Jensen was a great brand with great looking cars, but again, it was poorly managed and didn’t adapt.

    These days, it seems that if you want to survive and grow profitable in the auto industry, you better hope that it’s run by the Germans.

    • Henry F

      Jensen certainly created some great-looking cars, as did Austin, MG & Rover. It’s a real shame they’re no more.

      Very true Anthony, it seems that the Germans have adapted very well.

      Just look at how strong VW, BMW and MB are today. They’ve managed to produce great cars which people want, made good strategic business decisions (apart from MB acquiring Chrysler, which they then dumped), and maybe had just a little luck on their side with the misfortune of other car companies.

  • Shak

    It is sad to see the last of Her Majesty’s Marques disappear, but it is sort of their own fault, seeing as they are making cars from every era, except for the one that is relevant.

  • Baddass

    I wonder how far off the quoted 435km/h the Bristol was able to do? Pity they never let any motorig pulications test it, as I suspect it would be far off the mark.

  • DDH

    They are soooo expensive and weird – but totally unique, sad that one probably won’t have the option to buy a new Bristol if one were to become a billionaire and were invited…

  • John of Perth

    Never seen a recent Bristol road test to prove their claims for the Fighter. Interestingly, I believe the original 1948 Bristol 400\’s engine was a BMW derivative and hence the similar kidney grille. Should have let the Germans manage it and supply some of the mechanicals like Morgan.

  • http://None christopher balfour

    please consider reading my book effort ‘Bristol Cars’, second edition available from Haynes, Amazon, etc, or even via e-bay. It tries to explore the whole story based on talking to all involved and my now 50 years ownership of these cars.
    So hope at least service department survives and perhaps in time back to making for specific orders. They can not be compared with production line vehicles. They last a lifetime, are simple and strong therefore easily maintained by owners, and do not depreciate in value. Some do not want to waste time changing cars. The sound basic engineering is there, not bothered about money consuming fashion updates.