Tony Crook in Octane Magazine

[Markus Berzborn]

I doubt whether the price of the Fighter really matters. Who is able to spend 200,000 can also spend 300,000 or 400,000. This is really no price class for people who have to check their account first. Look at the Aston Martin One 77, its price tag is just ridiculous, 1.2 million Euros or something like that. But it sells nevertheless.
I think the new Bristol management will have to conduct a thorough market and cost analysis first and have a look at other small specialist car makers and try to understand how they operate. Wiesmann, Pagani, Koenigsegg and so many others - they all survive somehow in spite of small production figures. And there are even entirely new startup manufacturers like Marussia from Russia who have even ventured into Formula 1 for the current season.

As to me, what has been a problem in the long run is the concentration of Bristol Cars on the dwindling British market. It is in countries like Russia and China nowadays that large amounts of money are not only made but also readily spent. But over there hardly anyone knows that Bristol even exists.

Basically, the situation of Bristol Cars is comparable to Aston Martin before being taken over by Ford. But Aston Martin had a much more developed brand awareness. If you said "Aston Martin" everybody could associate something with this name. This is not the case with Bristol.
By the way, Aston Martin are now no longer part of a large conglomerate after Ford sold the company and - they even operate profitably. What they hadn't done for decades. In former times the company was really more like a hobby for people like David Brown or Victor Gauntlett.

Regards,
Markus

[The Baron]

I believe the price of the Fighter does matter Markus. There aren't enough cash addled billionaires out there to keep many car companies running in a sustainable manner for long, this market is ultimately novelty driven and requires regular (and expensive) model updates/reworkings to pander to a jaded palette. Aston will be OK for a while on the back of the massive investment by Ford, Bristol were in much the same position in the years immediately after the exit of BAC and look how long they limped on for. Whether the current Aston shareholders are in it for the long haul remains to be seen.
More relevent is the fact that the Bristol marque doesn't have the kind of glamourous, jet set image beloved by new money types, quite the opposite in fact. As a rich persons plaything, any company, even Manchester City FC, can survive provided the owners cash cows keep supplying. I strongly suspect that is the business model for many small volume hypercar producers. Aston have a modern, modular range of bread and butter volume produced cars which sell at prices affordable by the large numbers of the global moderately wealthy. I imagine their top of the range hypercars are produced partly to maintain the company's glamour rating and thus their brand value which is then exploited elsewhere within the company.
Now the situation at Bristol can be changed, but it will take time and a prodigious cash burn to do so with little guarantee of success. I personally believe Mr Silverton didn't do a lot wrong really, he attempted to steer a progressive course within the limitations of his finances, making use of the skill set available within the company. Even so he failed, and he had a solid background in specialist car production. That is a sobering fact indeed.

Anyway, despite it seems ruling myself out for the post as new Bristol Cars MD, I really do wish them the very best of luck in their future plans. All we can do is speculate as to what that future may hold, delivering a future is thankfully, someone else's bag.

[jimfoz]

Lets look at the luxury car market these days. Marques such as Bentley and Rolls Royce have succumbed to the money no object attitude. Wayne the professional footballer gets to buy a white Range Rover with gold spinners; Mr Oleg from Moscow gets to buy a bomb proof Rolls Royce with diamond encrusted radiator and snakeskin roof covering; Barbie the reality TV star buys a pink Bentley with corresponding fur lined interior; Mr Chan from Beijing buys his Rolls Royce with satin black paint and gold leaf lined door cappings. The new age wealth who run this world want bling for their cash, not 'dignified travel for four adults and their luggage'. TC would have kicked these people out of the showroom rightly or wrongly - Silverton may have been open to suggestions, but by this time the cars were too wrapped up in their own anonimity, and, in the case of the Blenheim, awkwardness, to ever regain profitability. This may have worked well in the 50's and 60's when Mr 'Old Money', finding the Rolls Royce rubbed it in a bit during these austere times, and the Cadillac Fleetwood much too vulgar and 'nouveau', would have gladly gone for the elegant simplicity and aeronautical inspired Bristol. Unfortunately not now where bad taste reigns supreme.

[Markus Berzborn]

Certainly there are such flamboyant customers but the VW Phaeton-derived entry level Bentleys for instance are more or less normal cars mostly driven by wealthier than average but not exceptionally eccentric people.

Regards,
Markus

[lansdownplace]

Originally Posted by Markus Berzborn

Certainly there are such flamboyant customers but the VW Phaeton-derived entry level Bentleys for instance are more or less normal cars mostly driven by wealthier than average but not exceptionally eccentric people.

Regards,
Markus

I was in the back of a Bentley Flying Spur recently and to my eye it looked like there had been a competition to see how much leather you could cram into the car. Perhaps the car I was in was Woolworths special edition? That (bitchily) said they are a marvelously engineered piece of kit

[browning l]

Originally Posted by lansdownplace

I was in the back of a Bentley Flying Spur recently and to my eye it looked like there had been a competition to see how much leather you could cram into the car. Perhaps the car I was in was Woolworths special edition? That (bitchily) said they are a marvelously engineered piece of kit

Beginning about '85, or so, we were fortunate to be able to have one Bentley or another.

Even if they were still available at the prices then in effect, their current styling turns me off completely.

The only way I do, or would, invest now, is in 1/43rd scale models for my collection, which is pretty much up to date from W. O.'s first models to the more recent.

I only wish I could get a good 1/43rd scale model of a 603, to add to what representations I have of other cars I've owned. I even have the paint to put it in its current iteration.

[Markus Berzborn]

Yes, the smaller ones, but the new Mulsanne is a very nice car again.
Bentley has succeeded in creating a modern car without neglecting the marque heritage and traditional design elements. In fact, the car is immediately recognizable as a Bentley.
Something which Jaguar's current designers seem to be completely incapable of. The new XJ ist really horrible. Without the Jaguar logo it could be mistaken for a Lexus, an Infiniti or anything else for that matter.

Regards,
Markus

Originally Posted by browning l

Even if they were still available at the prices then in effect, their current styling turns me off completely.