Wales

Families in Cardiff, Wales, will soon be able to add a new car to their shopping list following the launch of MG’s second UK concept store. Based in St David’s Dewi Sant, which attracts more than 38 million visitors a year, MG’s first such store outside of London will offer a dynamic, immersive and modern retail experience for customers. The 1,610-square foot retail boutique has been designed to reinvent the car buying journey. The store features a video screen wall, interactive iPad stations and will also include a dedicated lifestyle space. A collection of vehicles will be on display, representing models in the MG3 and MG GS ranges, with the much-anticipated MG XS in store by early November.

Phase I of Aston Martin’s new manufacturing facility at St Athan in Wales received the green light when Aston Martin President and CEO Dr Andy Palmer met Welsh First Minister, Rt Hon Carwyn Jones AM to finalize the sale of the St Athan site to the British luxury carmaker. In February 2016, Aston Martin announced that it had chosen St Athan from 20 potential global locations as its second manufacturing facility as part of a £200M investment in new products and facilities. A recruitment drive this summer began the search for up to 750 new Aston Martin employees who will work at the new facility, a number of whom have already begun their training, building the new DB11 at its Gaydon Headquarters.

Earlier this year, Aston Martin announced significant new investments in its long-term future in the United Kingdom, choosing St Athan in Wales as the location for its second manufacturing facility. As a specialist luxury manufacturer, Aston Martin requires highly skilled technicians to hand build its cars, so the new employees for the St Athan plant, which will begin full production in 2020, will commence their careers with Aston Martin at Gaydon. Over 40 people have begun work across the business where they are being fully trained in the ‘Aston Martin way’ by building the new DB11.

Resurgent British sports car maker, TVR, has announced today that its new production facility will be located in the Ebbw Vale Enterprise Zone in South Wales. The Welsh Government will also invest in the car maker, further enhancing this exciting manufacturing project which represents over £30 million of capital expenditure over the next five years. The contracts to locate the new TVR factory in Wales were signed on the 18th March and the deal was officially announced by Rt. Hon Carwyn Jones, the First Minister of Wales, during a press conference this morning. Currently, TVR is looking at several specific options for the precise location of the factory, the outcome of which will be the subject of a separate announcement in the coming weeks.

For our video this week we turn once again to our friends at Take to the Road with their excellent video of  the Gilbern T11 from Wales. To quote the guys at Take to the road … Gilbern is not a name that immediately springs to mind when you think of classic British sports cars. In fact not many people know about the former car maker that hailed from Wales. And even fewer are aware of its exciting two seat, rear engined sports coupe project from the 1970s. Founded in 1959 by Giles Smith and Bernard Friese, Gilbern was Wales’ only car maker. Both the former butcher and the former German Army soldier succeeded in building a car company from nothing and for a time challenged the likes of Jaguar and Rover with the Gilbern Genie V6. By the time […]