16.04.2004 Plans are underway for British specialist carmaker TVR to assemble left hand drive versions of their Tuscan sportscar at the former Alfa Romeo Arese plant

Plans are underway for British specialist carmaker TVR to assemble left hand drive versions of their Tuscan sportscar at the former Alfa Romeo Arese plant.

Since Alfa Romeo finally ended the limited remaining production at the historic plant recently, regional leaders have been pushing forward with plans to create a 'high-tech' zone, and TVR is expected to be the flagship leader of around fifteen companies which will divide up the 135,000 sq.metre facility.

Companies joining TVR will include, Global Engineering ( pollution solutions ), KBA and Prisco ( maintenance systems ), Kleen-Up ( vehicle pollution drainage ), Technofil ( fuel cells ), Microvett and Start Lab ( electric vehicles and hybrids ) and Sapio ( gases ).

The plan to assemble the two seater Tuscan has been driven by TVR's forward looking Italian President, Gianfranco Truglia, and regional boss, Roberto Formigioni, who has been keen to come up with a big plan to tackle the unemployment created by the departure of Alfa Romeo.

Truglia commented that Arese had proved the most attractive option, "Because the skilled labour is easy to find here". It is expected that around 200 Tuscan's a year will be assembled in left hand drive format for the domestic market.

The Tuscan is the English specialist's best seller. The standard model offers a 3.6-litre engine, while a more extreme version, the 1100kg Tuscan S, boasts a 390bhp 4.0-litre engine. The 195mph top speed Tuscan S races to 60 mph in just 3.8 seconds, while close attention has been paid to the styling. TVR's engineers spent many hours in the windtunnel to make it one of the first production road cars actually to have downforce over both axles thanks to a gurney above the bootlid and a splitter under the front grille.

TVR began in 1947 when a young engineer, Trevor Wilkinson, built himself a light alloy special based on an Alvis Firebrand chassis. The first TVR with its own chassis and Ford side valve power came two years later. By 1956 TVR's were being sold in the USA and in 1958 the Grantura was introduced. The Grantura, a fast, agile and attractive car, epitomised the emerging TVR philosophy, strong tubular chassis and powerful engines offering impressive performance at an attractive price.

The 1963 introduction of the first Griffith, essentially a Grantura with a big American V8, propelled TVR up a league as it was able to hold its own with the established names including Jaguar and AC. In 1970 they moved to their current Blackpool home, while the present owner and Chairman, Peter Wheeler, took over in 1982, two years after the all-new Tasmin was introduced.

1987 saw the introduction of the highly affordable S-series which transformed the marque's fortunes, production doubling almost overnight. Since then TVR have designed and developed their own engines as they aim to bring all production aspects under one roof.