It's a good sign for the reputation of a car company when it can sell out an entire year's production run on a new model before they have even started building it. But that is exactly what TVR->ke89 has managed to do, and it's all the more impressive since TVR hasn't really built any cars in several years. But TVR is now under new ownership (again) and a new car has been announced for 2017.

Details surrounding this new car are vague, and all we really know is that it's intended to be a TVR in the traditional sense. We know that means design work by Gordon Murray, (an F1->ke190 engineer, and McLaren->ke284 designer), and a naturally aspirated V-8 from Cosworth->ke4911. That all sounds great, and since it's a TVR it will also be insanely loud and possibly explode every so often. But it is bound to be an wild and exciting car, and a partnership with Murray and Cosworth definitely adds to that. That's probably why they've all sold out already.

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Why it matters

TVR is a sports car->ke506 maker with a healthy dose of weird in that way that small automakers are still able to have. It hasn't always worked out brilliantly, and the company is now on its fifth owner, but the cars have always had a charm about them that has created a rabidly loyal fanbase, and this is how they have managed to take 250 deposits of £5,000 each in just six weeks for a car nobody has seen yet.