| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 297.13 | A great shame for a great name | UPROAR::WATSONR | Lambs... so cute... but so tasty ! | Fri Aug 21 1992 09:27 | 16 |
| From the Daily Telegraph, Wednesday, August 19th
"Jensen, maker of luxurious cars, with a pedigree stretching back
to 1926, is poised to go into liquidation after selling only one
car in six months.
"Earlier this year the company launched the latest successor to its
famous Interceptor, the S4 EFI, after an extensive re-engineering
programme. But over the last year Jensen has found buyers for only
two cars and has become heavilly dependent on spares and repairs.
I must admit to wondering why someone would buy a �100,000 car when you
could buy an old one and have it TOTALLY restored for a lot less.
Still... I hope they don't disappear and that Jensen Parts and Service
are still around afterwards.
|
| 297.14 | All hope is not lost | JANUS::BARKER | Jeremy Barker - CBN - Reading, UK | Fri Aug 21 1992 14:56 | 5 |
| There is at least one potential buyer. While I am not really interested
in the type of product they produce, it would be unfortunate for them to
disappear down the road most British car manufacturers have followed.
jb
|
| 297.15 | Moving to Merseyside? | NEWOA::SAXBY | Born again reincarnationist | Fri Aug 21 1992 15:03 | 11 |
|
Did I hear right? Are they only producing 4 cars a year?!?!?
On a recent visit to the Marcos factory it was impressive to see how
busy they are (5 cars in production and an old Volvo 3 litre being
restored), but it would seem that they are unusual in that. Hopefully
the Japanese and other export markets will hold up for the small
manufacturers who are prepared to make the effort to get into them, but
it would seem that Jensen have failed.
Mark
|
| 297.16 | | UPROAR::WATSONR | Lambs... so cute... but so tasty ! | Fri Aug 21 1992 16:04 | 6 |
|
Well... the paper didn't mention production figures, but with a sale every
six months, one would suspect that they didn't produce many as there was no
demand.
Someone will buy it for the name no doubt.
|
| 297.17 | | KNAB06::WHEELWRIGHT | Lapsed atheist | Fri Aug 28 1992 12:49 | 5 |
| I *think* a similar article said they had intended to produce 12
per annum. They have debts of �200,000 pulling them down - so it must
be a reasonably small operation.
...and what with Norton too....
|
| 297.18 | | UPROAR::WATSONR | Lambs... so cute... but so tasty ! | Fri Aug 28 1992 14:05 | 25 |
|
As Mark (who obviously doesn't get his Telegraphs second-hand) said, it
looks like a Merseyside business man has offered a �1m deal to try and
rescue the cars.
Quote...
"I bought my first Jensen in 1982 and three years ago it was in
desparate need of repair so I took it to West Bromwich. That
was the moment I decided to get involved."
"I have wanted to buy the company for some time, and received a
positive reply when I approached the owners"
"I don't want to see a major british car firm go out of business"
I like the man's style (shades of the Victor Kyam school of business) but
one has to consider the number of times this story has unfolded since the
late 60's.
On almost the same topic, I read recently that Paddy Ashdown has been
slammed for driving a "Gas Guzzling" Peugeot. At 18mpg it is not the
most environmentally friendly car around. Hah ! The reporter has obviously
never heard of the Jensen SP. 18mpg ? in your dreams maybe. 11mpg more
likely. Aren't old cars like that wonderful !
|