Almost five years ago, British sports car manufacturer TVR revealed the Griffith, a new two-seater sports car that would revitalize the brand and show the world what the niche automaker is capable of in the modern age. Sadly, that reveal came more than a year on from initial teasers and not much has happened since. Constant delays and a lack of information seemed to suggest that the TVR project was once again stalling, but in July last year, we heard that the Griffith was not dead yet. Now, almost a year on from that update, TVR has finally revealed what the causes of the delays have been.

The TVR Griffith was touted as the first production car to utilize Gordon Murray's revolutionary iStream construction technique, which makes use of pre-assembled parts to cut costs and reduce manufacturing times, and a Ford Mustang GT-sourced 5.0-liter V8. Despite this, we haven't seen much of the car because TVR had no factory in which to build the new car. Interestingly, Evo magazine in the UK says that Gordon Murray Automotive has confirmed that "no one from TVR has made contact with them regarding production of the new Griffith." This implies that TVR has no interest in outsourcing the manufacture of its new sports car, but why? Well, TVR was expecting to be getting its own factory with backing from the Welsh Assembly. Sadly, this work was delayed because of rules around state funding, which in turn cast a shadow over the viability of TVR from an investor confidence point of view.

"We got into a bit of a chicken-and-egg scenario," TVR chairman Les Edgar told Evo. "We explained that our investment case would be more attractive if work was already underway with the factory, and it took more time to get agreement that work could start ahead of our next round of investment and recruiting staff." Thankfully, there is a glimmer of hope, as TVR expects the factory to be complete very soon, although it will not confirm that it has met its goal of completing the factory in the first quarter of 2022, suggesting that the company is behind schedule once again. Still, the automaker is working to overcome its numerous challenges and says that production and delivery of the first all-new TVR Griffith in 20 years will take place in the last quarter of 2023. Here's hoping it actually happens and that it's good enough to give the Lotus Emira headaches.