Westfield Sports Cars has entered into administration.
The maker of stripped-out two-seater kit cars was set up in 1983 as a competitor to Caterham and went to build a range of models, most sticking to the blueprint of the original Lotus 7.
Based in Kingswinford, west of Birmingham, it had recently expanded with the purchase of Chesil, the maker of Porsche 356 Speedster copies, in 2019.
It also set up Westfield Autonomous Vehicles to make self-driving pods.
Both Chesil and Westfield Autonomous Vehicles have also entered administration, according to identical notices posted on their respective websites.
Westfield parent company Westfield Technology Group (formerly Potenza Sports Cars) and its ultimate parent, Potenza Enterprises Limited, weren’t included in the administration, according to the information available online.
No further information was given by Westfield as to its future, but companies going into administration have usually run out of cash to pay debts and so appoint an administrator who will try to sell the company as a going concern or split its assets.
Company records show that Westfield Sports Cars had just £25,722 in cash at the end of 2021, along with stock worth £2.2 million and debts owed of £1.76m, suggesting cash flow was tight. It also owed £1.2m to parent company Westfield Technology Group.
Westfield had built up a solid reputation for creating interesting sports cars majoring on handling and horsepower rather than refinement.
The company had recently worked to futureproof its output by creating electric versions of its core Sport model and X1, a copy of the Lotus Eleven race car. It also developed an electric version of the Chesil Speedster.
Westfield was created by racer Chris Smith in 1983, starting with the Lotus Eleven replica and then moving into Seven replicas, including the SEiGHT, originally powered by a Rover V8. It was bought by Potenza Sports Cars in 2006. It claims to have built 13,000 cars since its inception.
It had planned in 2018 to build a mid-engined sports car as part of a plan to diversify its line-up, naming it the GTM.
CEO Julian Turner also planned to push the autonomous pod side of the business, with the aiming of “turning Westfield into the Boeing or Airbus of the automotive world, selling these vehicles to fleet operators more and more.”
Westfield Autonomous Vehicles created the Heathrow Pods that connects the Terminal 5 business parking to the main building and claims to have delivered “more fully autonomous vehicles than anyone else in the UK”.
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