Exclusive: Marcos may be made here

THE NICHE British sports car marque Marcos may commence manufacturing in Australia.

Negotiations are well advanced between Marcos Australia, the South Australian government, investors, suppliers and others for the recently released TSO GT Coupe to be built in Adelaide.

If the answer, due in June, is a ‘yes’, then local production can commence as early as the first half of 2007.

Building approximately 300 of the handmade sports cars here annually are enough to make the project viable.

Marcos Australia is a new, wholly locally-owned business that was set up to distribute and support vehicles made by Marcos Engineering Limited (MEL) from Westbury, Wiltshire in England.

Last year it began investigating local manufacture of the TSO GT Coupe, which has been specifically designed for the Australian market.

“A decision should be made within three months,” says Marcos Australia managing director John Pryce, adding ... “our plans are moving ahead very satisfactorily but there are still a few issues that are subject to commercial and other considerations.

“It is a part of our strategy to manufacture in the region and Australia would be the preferred site and subject to a number of things falling into place in the next couple of months then that is our intention.” Mr Pryce says that one of his prime objectives is to use maximum local content.

However he would not elaborate on the size of the local investment, or who the suppliers would be, should local manufacturing proceed.

And while Mitsubishi’s soon-to-close Lonsdale plant is not in the picture, given the go-ahead the company plans to tap into the pool of knowledge and expertise that exists in the Adelaide area.

There has been no negotiation with Holden regarding the TSO’s V8 powertrain supply, which MEL sources directly from General Motors in Detroit.

The SA government is actively courting Marcos Australia for Adelaide, with negotiations also continuing with investors and suppliers.

According to Mr Pryce, the SA government has provided support for its intentions, including assistance with the Clipsal 500 race in March that saw the world-premiere launch of the TSO GT Coupe.

“It is the SA government that has been the main player at this stage,” he said.

“We were looking for someone like the SA government and they were looking for someone like us.”

The motorsport support is also extremely important to Marcos because the company’s history is steeped in it, and there are plans for active involvement in future Australian events.

In the 1990s Marcos enjoyed numerous motorsport wins in the UK with the GM V8 engine, including a British GT Series Championship victory. There’s also been subsequent success at Le Mans.

If the production plans do materialise, Australia would then become the world’s sole supplier of the coupe.

Export markets would include Europe and America as well as Asia-Pacific areas such as Japan, New Zealand, China, Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea and possibly even India.

The Asia-Pacific region will come under Marcos Australia’s jurisdiction anyway, regardless of whether it builds or merely exports cars here.

UK production of the Coupe will commence in June alongside its R/T Convertible sibling, with the first supplies arriving from July.

Sales of up to 100 units can be earmarked annually for Australia, which is around the number Marcos intends to sell in the UK.

In this region, Japan is expected to be the biggest market outside Australia, with about 50 cars slated for arrival there.

The priority has been to get the car out here, launch it, road test and evaluate it, get a feel for the market.

“From here we’re addressing the issues and, if we were to manufacture, what the conditions would be,” Mr Pryce added.

Australia was chosen because of our market’s enthusiasm for, and understanding of, raw high-performance V8 engines.

Not counting any local manufacturing agreement, Marcos Australia will employ around 50 people.

“Obviously this figure will be much higher if a local manufacturing deal is reached” says Marcos Australia managing director, John Pryce.

Mr Pryce’s ambitions for Marcos are based on sound business ideas.

“The figures have been calculated on firm financial grounds. We’re serious business people and not just petrol heads. If the numbers didn’t stack up then we wouldn’t do it.

“We have a product that is good for the region and we know we can structure a very good business out of it.”

Mr Pryce has spent the last 15 years mainly in Europe and Asia.

Amongst other places, he has worked in managerial positions for Repco, Pacific Dunlop and Elders IXL.

Marcos Engineering Limited, the owners of the 46 year-old marque, has recently relaunched the brand in the UK after the old Marcos concern went into receivership in 2001.

Since then a new consortium of investors have revived and revitalised the brand, specifically with the aforementioned TSO model.

Meet the Marcos TSO GT Coupe

The $180,000 Marcos TSO GT Coupe had its world premiere at Adelaide’s Clipsal 500 race meeting on March 18.

The prototype on show, which completed several pre-race laps, is the only one built so far.

It is currently undergoing a rigorous 2800km test and evaluation course for in preparation for the production cars’ local arrival.

Both the hand-built TSO GT Coupe and the car it is derived from, the R/T Convertible, is also priced at $180K.

The R/T was released in Britain at a show in Birmingham, England, last May.

They are sports car rivals to the Porsche 911, several AMG-fettled Mercedes such as the CLK55, BMW’s 6 Series coupe and UK cottage sports car industry compatriot TVR.

Like the latter, the rear-wheel drive TSO is a two-seater powered by a high-performance V8 engine – in this case a derivation of General Motors’ 298kW (400bhp) 5.7-litre OHV GEN III V8 engine.

Marcos says the lightweight (1100kg) GT Coupe can accelerate to 96.56km/h (the imperial 60mph) in just over four seconds, 160.9km/h (100mph) in just over nine seconds, and from 80.47km/h (50mph) to 112.65km/h (70mph) in just over two seconds.

The 297.73km/h (185mph) top speed puts the GT’s performance well into the supercar league.

Engineering specialists Prodrive undertook much of the TSO GT’s chassis development and testing.

Up to 100 cars can be imported annually if the demand is there, with 70 per cent of them being the Coupe.

If the plans for production in Adelaide bare fruit, around 300 cars are likely to be (hand) made annually, with about two-thirds of that likely for export consumption.

In lieu of dealerships, Marcos is planning for specialised retail sales centres consisting of an auto shop with only one or two cars and an appropriately salubrious room.

Just four downtown locations are being considered for Australia.

Sites such as Southbank in Melbourne, Sydney’s Pitt Street, the Gold Coast and Adelaide are on the cards. These will be purely sales and merchandising outlets.

Servicing, maintenance and spare parts access will be with a strategic partner.

The details are still under discussion, but it is believed an announcement with an existing high-performance service outlet will be made soon. Marcos is aiming to have 12 to 15 of them nationally.

2005 MARCOS TSO GT SPECIFICATIONS

PRICE
• $180,000 on-the-road

WARRANTY
• 3-years/100,000km
ENGINE
• Aluminum alloy 5.7-litre OHV GEN III V8
• Power 300kW/400BHP@6000rpm
• Torque 534Nm/393lb-ft@5000rpm

TRANSMISSION/DIFFERENTIAL
• Six-speed manual gearbox/limited-slip differential

BODY/CHASSIS
• Two-door two-seat coupe
• Tubular Space Frame Chassis
• GRP Composite Body

DIMENSIONS
• Length: 402mm, width: 1680mm, Height: 1150mm
• Wheelbase: 2280mm
• Front Track: 1450mm
• Rear Track: 1400mm
• Weight: 1170kg

BRAKES
• Ventilated and Cross-drilled with 4-pot alloy callipers
• Front: 340mm grooved
• Rear: 320mm

STEERING
• Powered rack and pinion steering
• 2.5 turns lock-to-lock
• Fully-adjustable column

WHEELS
• Front: 17x7.5 inch alloy wheels, 215/40/17 ZR tyres
• Back: 18x8 inch alloy wheels, 225/40/18 ZR tyres

Marcos who?

Marcos the marque sprang out of the 1959 partnership between two men obsessed with motorsport.

Designers/engineers Jem Marsh and Frank Costin, the brother of Mike Costin of Cosworth racing fame, began building fast, lightweight cars driven by luminaries such as Jonathan Palmer, Derek Bell and Jackie Stewart.

There was much technical expertise between the two of them, particularly the late Costin, who up until then had worked as an aerodynamic flight test engineer with aircraft manufacturer De Havilland as well as Lotus.

Costin left in 1961, a year before Marsh established the kit car business Marcos Cars Ltd. Variations of the sports/racing car theme followed, leading to the expensive 1964 Marcos GT coupe.

A failed venture into the US in 1970 was followed by the sale of Marcos to racing team proprietor Rob Walker in 1971, but financial difficulties led to the GT models’ demise a year later.

Still, Marcos lived on because of the success of its more affordable Mini-Marcos model, a fiberglass re-body of the iconic BMC Mini released in the mid-1960s.

Meanwhile Marsh resurfaced with Marcos during the latter 1970s, and by 1981 had put the old GT back in production alongside more modern derivatives of the Mini-Marcos.

Ups and downs have followed, with considerable motor racing success with the LM600 model during the 1990s.

Marcos went into receivership in 2001, with the new MEL management behind the reinvention of the company ever since.

Its TSO range, the first fruit of the fresh start, was released in Europe in May 2004.