TVR production leaving Britain

TVR, one of Britain's few remaining independent automakers, said today it will end vehicle production at its Blackpool factory and move operations elsewhere.

The company, which was bought in 2004 by Nikolai Smolensky, employs 260 people in the Blackpool factory, where it has been building cars since Trevor Wilkinson established the company in 1947. Production will likely move to either Russia or France, but engines will remain British built.

"We need to secure the future of the company and move it forward," Nikolai Smolensky said in a statement, "I am afraid we see no other way to do so."

Only last month TVR had raised employee's hopes when it assured them it would stay in Blackpool though it had announced it would cut 71 jobs and cut production nearly tenfold in April this year.