Factory ending XTR production

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

A decent factory race series to push and hone the marque, plus some proper PR'ing and maybe a "celebrity expert" special edition; something along the lines of the JPE Caterham's, has to be properly developed/re-engineered not just graphics and a paint job. But something to give a quick credibility boost that will also have a halo effect on other models. Make the developments retrofittable and you can even sell them as aftermarket performance goodies to existing owners.

[JeffC]

A decent factory race series to push and hone the marque, plus some proper PR'ing and maybe a "celebrity expert" special edition; .

what like  a "Jason Plato " edition    

[bill kerr]

if they were going to push sales it should have been done in the first few years of release and followed up with some development to iron out the faults,now that they cant even build a decent seven type car its proberly best left alone,existing ones will become rare and prices will proberly go up

[Martin Keene]

Bring back the Smiths I say. Petrol ran within those veins, not money.

I liked the cut of Julians jib when they 1st took over ( car development/ taking on customer ideas/ racing/ trackdays etc.....)

Now? I'm sad to admit I think it was all talk; and what we have left is a sterilised/ fattened/ euro pleasing prettying out of the "traditional" westfield that will make money in the "new world" markets.....and nothing else

This...

Sadly the talk the talk Julian gave at the club stand when they first took over has not lived up to expectations. Sadly I have seen the talk the talk too many times on a professional basis, I was prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt, but in my mind, the Westfield of today has very little, if anything, to do with the old one.

Had I had the money to build a new Westfield when the Smiths were in charge, would I have done it? Yes, in a heartbeat. Would I today, I'm not sure, it would have to be given some very serious consideration...

Moving on slightly, I don't actually understand why they bought the company, or the other companies they have bought since. They bought Westfield, GTM and the Cobra, and so far have killed off the XTR's, 11, GTM and the Cobra and 'launched' a Euro approved SEi and an electric racer.

I say 'launched' because I have never seen anything other than the factory prototype of the racer and the Euro approved car is just a variant of what has gone before, and indeed, it is not the first Euro approved car Westfield has made.

[lippydave]

A decent factory race series to push and hone the marque, plus some proper PR'ing and maybe a "celebrity expert" special edition; .

what like  a "Jason Plato " edition    

FPMSL

ROTFL

PIMPLMFAO.....    

[markcoopers]

Steady on matrin, these are not quite 100% accurate. Potenza have/are re tooling the GTM to take a chassis, so that it becomes economic to make in sufficient numbers to sell and to gain type approval (if not already done so). It is not caned as such, just undergoing change.

The ones that are canned are the rare odd chassis or slow sellers that perhaps time will come back to.  Initially they have to get the quality and trust and fit and finish back to and past a standard that is typically better than all kit car makers.

I don't like the fact that the 11 and XTR's are included in that, but perhaps they will come back when type approval and a modern engine is available for simple money.

To sell circa 400+ cars a year you need to be selling in Europe and that means type approval. Yes there are loop holes that allow some "flexibility" in that, westfield have exploited these and will i am sure do so going forwards.

So no i don't like it, but they are still here and setting a foundation that should keep them here. I guess better that than no westfield and no cars?

[wilsonch]

I am gutted that the XTR is going, getting parts for me is going to be all the more difficult BUT with the current Euro laws taking over (IVA)  the XTR2 is getting very difficult to get on the road. As has been mentioned Westfield are not 'into' the racing thing, and the 5th gear test proves they are trying to make a road cars not  track cars.

The XTR2 could not continue in its current state, people want to see at least some sort of development in build quality and manufacture and the XTR2 had neither, It is a pain to put together and even more difficult to maintain. Taking this into account why would potenza plough money into such development for very few sales, even for racers.

HOWEVER having said that there must still be a market for such track focused cars.

Radical are continually developing their cars, buy that’s why they cost £££££. There is also the AGM sports cars WLR model, and Spire sports both very nice cars.

From a business decision i can understand it, from a personal point of view I think its wrong...but its not my business!!

chris

[samcooke]

The story goes :

Passionate enthusiast makes success of low volume car produced in a shed.

Businessman sees that enthusiast makes money and reasons that with his business brain he can do much better.

Enthusiast sells for offer he can't refuse.

Businessman tries lots of new ideas for a bit.

Businessman fails to make a fortune.

Businessman decides to shut up shop.

Original enthusiast buys remnants of firm for next-to-nothing.

As far as I can tell no businessman has ever made a success of low volume cars. All the firms that have survived (and it is always just survival) have been run by people who love cars more than money.

Here are some examples :

Marcos

Ginetta

TVR

Chesil

It's impossible to get rich off low volume specialist cars. I'm amazed businessmen haven't worked it out yet.

[jeff oakley]

The potenza lot are not mugs and looking at their track record in business suggests they have a plan but it will probably not be what others want.

The XTR range was not good enough to compete with established cars like the radical on track and as a road car it is not ideal to say the least. If sales were good it would still be made.

The GTM was too expensive in its current form the demonstrator weighs in at £30k, what else could you buy for that wedge?

The 11, is very difficult to get through IVA and again low sales volume.

The Cobra was planned to be chassised with Westfiled parts already made ie uprights etc, no idea with that one but probably a rethink in the market for another Cobra?

They have shown they want low volume approved cars factory built into europe and the Far east with their recent tie up.

I hope they will still make kits but Ginnette went the opposite and stopped all kits and look what has happened to them!

What I find sad is that we had lots of information at first and now we get the same press as everyone else. It would be nice to be treated as part of the "family" as we were under the Smiths (who were also ruthless in business) but understood us.

[jak]

QUOTE

Had I had the money to build a new Westfield when the Smiths were in charge, would I have done it? Yes, in a heartbeat. Would I today, I'm not sure, it would have to be given some very serious consideration...

Wot he said

QUOTE

the 5th gear test proves they are trying to make a road cars not  track cars.

Unfortunately they don't work as a road car in the long term. That's why you will see so many people selling after 4-5 years, people buy them, and for those very few occassions when you find a quiet bit of A road with no traffic on it, it all makes sense, for the rest of the time there are more cons than pros to using a Westfield as a road going car.

[Mark Stanton]

QUOTE

for those very few occassions when you find a quiet bit of A road with no traffic on it, it all makes sense, for the rest of the time there are more cons than pros to using a Westfield as a road going car.

I think you've hit nail on head John ..........     U.K roads just aren't what they used to be  

[jak]

for those very few occassions when you find a quiet bit of A road with no traffic on it, it all makes sense, for the rest of the time there are more cons than pros to using a Westfield as a road going car.

I think you've hit nail on head John ..........     U.K roads just aren't what they used to be  

Indeed - now French roads!!            

[lippydave]

for those very few occassions when you find a quiet bit of A road with no traffic on it, it all makes sense, for the rest of the time there are more cons than pros to using a Westfield as a road going car.

I think you've hit nail on head John ..........     U.K roads just aren't what they used to be  

However a small, light reasonably priced, decent performing, attractive, much more practical coupe, with some demonstrable green credentials could be ideally placed in the current market? Non?

Get the feck on with it and sort that reworked GTM coupe out Westfield now!!!    

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

There was an interesting thread over on Pistonheads a little bit ago about the GTM side of things. IIRC, it was something along the lines of the initial plan had been to keep the coupe ticking along, maybe with some WF bits (?) until it could be properly reworked. But the cost of getting the grp monocoque back into production was prohibitive, so they were having to find a more cost effective wayof making the car. (People forget that the moulds for these sort of GRP cars require running maintenance, and that if it's not done they can quickly become unusable.)

[Mark Stanton]

mais oui John    

GTM probably still needs a lot of work and in these hard times it would be difficult to spare the cash for development ............ however with the delay IMHO I think that the market for a GTM has gone ......... it would have to compare against the likes of Mazda MX5, Elise and a few other small open top sports cars and that would require huge investment costs    

XTR range never was developed fully and not enough support for a race championship  

XI altho a beautiful car does have minority appeal in a minority market  

SEi has been at the market forefront for many years in various guises (engine options) ......... but again that market has been hit hard by the recession     and WSC Ltd have opened up the european market for themselves ............ and perhaps need to look at the UK market for recession ending.........