End of road for Marcos
Famous sports car company wound up
Marcos announced last month that it had called in the administrators. In a statement, MD Tony Stelliga said ‘Regrettably, despite the extraordinary efforts of our employees, suppliers and dealers, we simply could not attain a profit point, reduce our cost base or raise the necessary capital to sustain the business.’
The tiny British sports car company went into receivership in 2000 and was resurrected in 2002 by Stelliga, a Canadian-born electronics tycoon. Stelliga was the owner and the company’s sole source of capital. Speaking to evo, he said that it was the unfavourable dollar/pound exchange rate that had prompted the decision, the dollar now being worth half what it was five years ago. Stelliga and his team had worked hard to develop a car that could match the appeal of products from TVR, a marque he much admired. He employed ex-TVR stylist Damian McTaggart to style the open-topped TSO and later TSO GT coupe and struck a deal with GM for a supply of Chevrolet V8s. Prodrive was commissioned to develop the car and create a production facility at its Warwick site.
All appeared to be in place for success despite a protracted development programme, with a number of orders in the book, but Stelliga pulled the plug when it became clear that there was no long-term financial viability.
‘It’s been painful,’ he said. ‘It’s a great product and all the guys did a great job. Once the decision was made I elected for a graceful end for the company – I didn’t want it to suffer with speculation.’
