It’s with a heavy heart that PH can report Westfield Sports Cars Limited - along with its Westfield Autonomous Vehicles subsidiary - has entered administration. The affairs of the companies are now being handled by MB Insolvency. Which is all fairly gutting.
This is PistonHeads, after all, and low volume British sports cars are kind of our thing - after all, PH wouldn’t exist without them. And Westfield, putting hearty V8s in featherweight roadsters (amongst other things), represented the archetype to a tee. Small, very silly and slightly scary sports cars are the kind of vehicle Britain does best (certainly better than anyone else), and Westfield appeared to ply a decent trade in doing so. Even with the V8s gone and the recent switch to bike engines and Ford EcoBoosts, the essence remained unchanged, with a whole lotta power motivating very little weight. And who doesn’t love that?
Problem being, of course, that with Caterham and others doing broadly the same thing, there wasn’t loads of space for Westfield to operate in. Plus, of course, there is plenty of incoming legislation that doesn't bode well for the UK's low volume car industry. Well, that’s our assumption for now; the only statement available about the administration is what’s plastered over the Westfield website. Add a cost-of-living crisis onto the increasingly tight regulation and it gets hard even for well-funded manufacturers. You'd imagine there aren't too many people out shopping right now for a sports car they can only use for a couple of months a year.
Still, it’s undoubtedly the worst kind of news for a Friday. Westfield enjoyed 40 years in the business and contributed to many a fond memory with cars like the Megabusa, Megablade, SEight and many more besides. We’ll bring you any more news as it’s available.
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