SMOLENSKY - I WANT A PERSONAL REPLY
Discussion
What the f**k are you playing at? You come to our country with a handful of daddy's money, and for £15 million buy a car company that many of us have invested enormous sums of money in (peanuts to you I am afraid), and believe is a fundamental part of British motoring and then ar5e around staying at Blackpool, moving from Blackpool, selling it, making several hundred people redundant, and then, allegedly, buying the company back.
I want to know what the hell you are playing at and I want an answer from YOU. Nobody else.
I want to know what the hell you are playing at and I want an answer from YOU. Nobody else.
To be fair to Smolensky, by all accounts TVR were in a bad way when he came along, with many many warranty claims mainly due to the speed six engine failures, so possibly he kept them going a couple of extra years, who knows.....
The glory days of the early nineties had long gone........
The glory days of the early nineties had long gone........
Thanks Wacky Racer, you make very valid points, but that's not quite the answer I wanted. All of us could whinge and moan about reliability, standard of finish, longevity etc but WE have, through thick and thin, held onto the belief that there is (was) something special about this company. I do not want excuses - just an honest answer. Is that too much to ask?
Edited to add, I have invested over £40000 in this company/car and am, by no means, the heaviest investor. Does he not owe us at least an explanation as to what he is planning to do. Many people have lost jobs over this farce!
Edited to add, I have invested over £40000 in this company/car and am, by no means, the heaviest investor. Does he not owe us at least an explanation as to what he is planning to do. Many people have lost jobs over this farce!
Edited by flashheart on Saturday 24th February 00:15
flashheart said:
I do not want excuses - just an honest answer. Is that too much to ask?
Now I am no NS fan...but: - why should he give you an answer? It's his train set, he can do as he pleases. He has paid for the privilege.
- The whole purchase / administration / buy back is within the law, regardless of whether it is morally abhorrent or not.
- "some" of us on here (not me!) were full of praise for some of his previous actions - stopping production to improve quality for example.
As I said, I'm not fan, in fact I think he is being very naive. Either he has a plan (I doubt it), or he is just going to burn more of Daddy's cash and come a cropper again, at which point someone else will pick up the pieces.
It may be painful, but with our support, TVR will live on.
Yes, with our support it will, and that is the whole point. There have been many threads about 'oh I own a cheap plastic kettle' or 'my fridge has broken so I bought a new one'. Fine. Your £50000 Sagaris is broken so go and buy another one ar5ehole. Most people can afford £150 for a new fridge.
Work out how many TVRs are in circulation at the moment and work out who is keeping this company afloat, or not as it currently is. It is certainly not because of the 'fantastic' 3 year warrantly recently introduced by his Magnificence otherwise he would not have had to close the company. it must be because labour and parts are so expensive in England that it is a wonder all companies have not had to close down and relocate abroad.
Complete sh11te!
So, as I said, some sort of explanation to the majority of people who used to keep this company afloat would be appreciated. It is not as if they make 5 million units per year that are sold worldwide, so stop the pathetic analogy to cheap electrical goods.
Work out how many TVRs are in circulation at the moment and work out who is keeping this company afloat, or not as it currently is. It is certainly not because of the 'fantastic' 3 year warrantly recently introduced by his Magnificence otherwise he would not have had to close the company. it must be because labour and parts are so expensive in England that it is a wonder all companies have not had to close down and relocate abroad.
Complete sh11te!
So, as I said, some sort of explanation to the majority of people who used to keep this company afloat would be appreciated. It is not as if they make 5 million units per year that are sold worldwide, so stop the pathetic analogy to cheap electrical goods.
Wacky Racer said:
The glory days of the early nineties had long gone........
This is very true but those of us on a limited budget or by choice are still enjoying them. OK in my case it's the 80's and 1990!
I feel gutted by what has happened but knew it would due the questions I was asked by a Russian film crew after the Thunderball run.
It stinks but we can do nothing about it and I hope we will all move on soon as it is becoming depressing reading the forums.
We are only beating ourselves up, NS will be laughing at us wingeing.
We did what we could, we cemented frienships with factory workers which I hope will continue.
Surely it is now time to get back to enjoying our cars AND what they now stand for and lets get back to posting tidings of joy and help on these forums. PLEASE!!
is what it is all about.owners of TVR's did not invest in the company by buying shares, but as customers (and for this company more like enthusiasts) they were major stakeholders in the company - along with the workforce, suppliers, the tax payer (ex workforce), local economy etc.
I think they are all warranted in asking for an explanation from the major stakeholder NS as to what has happened or will be next. by ignoring stakeholders another bad move....
I am sure he had good intentions when he bought in but clearly has failed on every dimension of good management.
A few people have said on here it would make a good film... I think you could get a PHD out of the case study!
I think they are all warranted in asking for an explanation from the major stakeholder NS as to what has happened or will be next. by ignoring stakeholders another bad move....
I am sure he had good intentions when he bought in but clearly has failed on every dimension of good management.
A few people have said on here it would make a good film... I think you could get a PHD out of the case study!
targarama said:
Unfortunately it is us who are too emotionally involved with a lump of GRP and metal.
That's true but...
I think TVR's are unique (maybe Morgans? I dunno..) in that they are purchased in a good part by people who actually do care. When you are spending £45-60k on a sports car there is plenty of choice and TVR is not the logical one by any means. So the people who do buy them tend to do so with heart rather than head and it is therefore an emotional purchase and the people who make it tend to be more "involved" in the marque than those who write a check in a Porsche dealership.
I think that is why we tend to be prepared to put up with more too. Usually when I buy a new car and return it for its first service with a double sided sheet of A4 full of faults to be rectified I'm not smiling! But I was prepared to put up with that and then do the same 2 years later (although in fairness the snagging list was much much shorter for the T2) and accept it as a fair trade for buying something rare, British and intoxicating with which I felt truly involved with, even to the extent of having been to the factory to watch it being made.
Whilst I understand peoples anger and fury over the last 18-24 months of activity at TVR, I feel that this is a pointless post.
Smolenski will not provide you with an answer because he does not have to - not just to you but anybody. You could say "Well we deserve some sort of answer", did Rover provide answers to millions of customers who bought there product and there warranties were void during the collaspe of Rover, no is the answer.
Whilst a lot of people on here blame Smolenski for this and that, I can tell you that he is certainly not an innocent pawn in all this but Oxley and Jr have not helped things.
I saw my local dealer in London yesterday and it is just as hard for them as us, they have stock sitting around them that they are having to lose money on not to mention pay interest on there stocking loans that won't be renewed come the end of the term, mainly in part because the bank feels TVR is a risk at the moment.
I am sure all will be revealed in time, Smolenski has lost credibility with this whole fiasco and he would be naive to not see this.
Meantime, TVR as a brand still needs our support as it is the dealers holding on to the network with its customers!
Smolenski will not provide you with an answer because he does not have to - not just to you but anybody. You could say "Well we deserve some sort of answer", did Rover provide answers to millions of customers who bought there product and there warranties were void during the collaspe of Rover, no is the answer.
Whilst a lot of people on here blame Smolenski for this and that, I can tell you that he is certainly not an innocent pawn in all this but Oxley and Jr have not helped things.
I saw my local dealer in London yesterday and it is just as hard for them as us, they have stock sitting around them that they are having to lose money on not to mention pay interest on there stocking loans that won't be renewed come the end of the term, mainly in part because the bank feels TVR is a risk at the moment.
I am sure all will be revealed in time, Smolenski has lost credibility with this whole fiasco and he would be naive to not see this.
Meantime, TVR as a brand still needs our support as it is the dealers holding on to the network with its customers!
Figgis said:
Whilst a lot of people on here blame Smolenski for this and that, I can tell you that he is certainly not an innocent pawn in all this but Oxley and Jr have not helped things.
I have to say in conversations that I have had, either with people who worked at TVR or in dealerships, I have never heard a good word about Oxley and I am going back several years, not just following recent events. Talking to workers at the Blackpool rally most of the vitriol was reserved for Oxley. But then Smolenski did give him the job.........
unrepentant said:
Figgis said:
Whilst a lot of people on here blame Smolenski for this and that, I can tell you that he is certainly not an innocent pawn in all this but Oxley and Jr have not helped things.
I have to say in conversations that I have had, either with people who worked at TVR or in dealerships, I have never heard a good word about Oxley and I am going back several years, not just following recent events. Talking to workers at the Blackpool rally most of the vitriol was reserved for Oxley. But then Smolenski did give him the job.........
I think that was mainly in part due to the fact that Smolenski fired most of the other decent people from the back office staff, leaving Oxley.
You are absolutely correct, the TVR Workers detested Oxley and his Jr's as I understand there is Jason and James. It always amazed me the story I heard that back in the days of Wheeler, Oxley was out in the Engineering Workshops and was a relative nobody. I met him at the British Motor Show and MPH 05 and found him to be both arrogant and quite matter of fact.
I always believe the sayings that 'what goes around, comes around' and 'every dog has his day', I believe the workers will have theres before long.
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