Westfield Sports Cars: 24th January 2023; Westfield Chesil Ltd, important update.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

22 June 2022

 

No solid news to report at this point. Basic information went out to interested parties with respect to the sale of the business last week, - we received one having previously discussed it with MB-I.

 

While I can't disclose the contents of the (confidential) sales memorandum, I can say at that point there was nothing "for us". Appointments for those interested in purchasing the business were being arranged to view the assets at Kingswinford. However, in order to proceed to even that stage, would have required a signature from ourselves, (me), on an NDA (Confidentiality agreement), worded such, that I couldn't sign, and be in compliance with our own Club Constitution, (and not in a small trivial way, either).

 

At this point though, there was no point making a mountain out of a mole hill, as the only reason for going from the Clubs point of view would be morbid curiosity.

 

I replied to the info pack though stating as such, however I did also stress, that should the business fail to sell in this first round, and be liquidated, there would be assets such as the archives, that we may be interested in, so we do as a Club, still have irons in the fire.

 

And for the moment, that's it, as far as we know. I'll keep updating this thread when I have any solid updates. It's not our intention to repeat hear-say from Social Media, we don't have to be first with information, just right.

 

I've been in touch with the Chesil Support Group on Face Book, now the Westfield Support Group, it's a closed group, I can see we have a few members on there, though it is mainly the Chesil guys. On the whole, other than some Chesil specific suppliers, they don't seem to have much more info than us.

 

Westfield Support Group

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Just to update everyone, Simeon Cattle, the General Manager at Westfield Chesil has sent me an updated press release with where they're up to and the plans for 2023 as they currently stand.

 

Quote

WSCC UPDATE

 

The assets of Westfield Sports Cars and The Chesil Motor Company have been purchased from MB Insolvency by Nigel Trilk and a new company Westfield Chesil Ltd has been formed to continue the development, sale and parts supply of these iconic cars.

 

Westfield Chesil Ltd has now completed the move of the business to their new headquarters in Bicester and are preparing to reopen. 

 

2023 WESTFIELD VEHICLES

 

We are currently working with the original supply chain to purchase all the necessary components to build the cars in volume. As you can imagine this is no easy task. We have had to:

Do a thorough stock take of the components that were left over after the administration process. This confirmed what we were certain of, there were not enough components available to build one car let alone a run of them.

Talk to all the suppliers, confirm they are willing to do business with us and make sure there is a future supply of quality parts

Establish lead times, minimum order quantities and place orders for both 2023 production and demand for spare parts.

Many of the suppliers have sustained substantial financial loss over the last 9 months and we are working to turn their current stock into cash as well as place long term order contracts so they can start to recover.

Generally, this has been well received so we will be releasing 2023 Production of the following vehicles on the 1st March 2023:

 

Westfield Sport Single Donor Vehicle (Mazda MX5)

Westfield Sport (Zetec Powered)

Westfield Sport 250 (Eco Boost Powered)

Westfield XI

 

MODEL DEVELOPMENT

 

As you are probably aware, the ZETEC is no longer available and the Sport and XI have not had any significant updates in the last 6 years. The Westfield Chesil Ltd Engineering Team will be developing the Westfield Sport and XI throughout 2023. In the coming weeks we will be owners and members of the club to get feedback on the current range of products and where improvements can be made.

 

We look forward to releasing details of updated vehicles in the very near future.

 

PARTS AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT

 

Chris Bell, formally of Westfield Sports Cars and Iwan Jones, our new Parts Manager have been working with the Westfield and Chesil supply chain. With their hard work we are close to completing the processes required to re-open the parts department.  Over the next 4 weeks we will be implementing computer ERP systems to control and automate the parts business, making it more efficient and more reliable.

 

Whilst this has been going on Jason Bell (also formally of Westfield Sports Cars) has taken the opportunity to update and improve the online shop. It will open for business on or before the 1st March 2023. Once Jason has completed this he will be manning our retail parts and technical support helpline which will be available from April 1st 2023.

 

2023 CHESIL Speedster

 

We are currently working with the original supply chain to purchase all the necessary components to build the cars in volume. We will be releasing 2023 Production of the following vehicles on the 1st March:

Chesil Speedster Heritage Edition – VW Chassis - 1600cc

Chesil Speedster Heritage Edition – VW Chassis - 1776cc

NEW CHESIL MODELS - FINAL DEVELOPMENT

 

CHESIL-E

 

During the first half of 2023 the Westfield Chesil Ltd Engineering Team will be finalising the Chesil-E and making sure it is production ready. We have a complete Demonstrator Vehicle which is available for test drive. Production is slated for Quarter 4 2023.

 

CHESIL-ICE

 

In parallel to the final development of the Chesil-E, we will continue work on a new chassis for our fuel injected Chesil Speedster due in 2024. A demonstrator will be available from the beginning of Quarter 3 2023. 

 

SIMEON CATTLE

General Manager - Westfield Chesil LTD 

Unit 8, Arkwright Road, Bicester. OX26 4SU

 

It's great to see amongst many, many other things, some familiar faces have been retained, which will help bring knowledge and experiance of the brand, through to the current company.