8:46 am, July 19, 2024
Taxpayers face having to foot a multi-million-pound bill over a failed factory project for TVR.
Public funds were used in a bid to woo the sports car manufacturer to Wales, with more than £12m spent on buying and refurbishing a site in Ebbw Vale.
A £2m loan over five years plus a £500,000 direct investment were also made, with the target of 2,000 cars a year being produced by 2020.
It would also have seen 150 jobs created, but neither goal was achieved.
TVR was still unable to lease it for production purposes as of July 2023, according to an update to the public accounts and public administration committee of the Welsh Parliament by Adrian Crompton, who is the auditor general for Wales.
The Welsh government then considered two options for the site:
- Selling it at a market value of around £7.5m, meaning a loss of £4.85m against the purchase and refurbishment costs
- Leasing it to an alternative tenant that could generate some £735,000 a year over a term of 10 to 15 years, giving a total return of up to £11.025m
It went for the second option and appointed an external agent last November to begin marketing the property in January.
However, although there has been some market interest, which is being considered, there have been no formal offers.
This year, TVR said it was looking to end its lease as it wanted to move production to Hampshire, according to an Auto Express report.
The Welsh government still has 1.6% of TVR Automotive shares, and Crompton says the government is considering whether or not to sell them back to TVRA or keep them ‘in the hope that the share price might increase from the current valuation’.
Pictured at top is the TVR Griffith
