A few days back, we brought you news of the 2000bhp packing Trion Nemesis hypercar in the works. Well, the onslaught of vehicles you cant buy unless you are the heir to an oil fortune is set to continue thanks to the resurgence of a british boutique brand.
It’s not your fault if you haven’t heard of Lister cars yet. The Cambridge-based firm was quite a big name in the 1950s, routinely winning races and producing some of the finest road cars of that generation. It fell into obscurity a number of times since then, to be resurrected and then fall again. But never forgotten; Lister’s most memorable product is the Lister-Jaguar, a luxury sports tourer that featured a powertrain from the Jaguar D Type and a Lister-built “knobbly” body and chassis, championed by drivers like Sir Stirling Moss. Then there’s the Lister Storm racecar that competed in Le Mans in the 1990s, right before its eventual demise.
But not for long. With the blessing of Lister founder Brian Lister, the father and son duo of Andrew and Lawrence Whittaker resurrected the marque last year to restart production of the cult favourite Lister ‘Knobbly’. It proved to be reasonably successful with the jet set too, having sold nine of the limited run of its £350,000 ‘Knobbly’ anniversary cars generating an order book with a value of over £3million. Not exactly Honda/Toyota numbers there, mind you, but consider the niche clientele and it becomes all clear.
Emboldened by their success, the duo have now announced plans to launch a high-end performance model that they say will return the brand to the “leading edge of low-volume sports car manufacturing in the U.K. as well as Asia and North America.”
Lister will be building its own car and engine, and is currently seeking investors for the project. What they have in mind is a 7.8-litre, supercharged V12 capable of putting out 1000PS and a top speed of over 400 kmph.
Unlike the existing competition in the hypercar market, Lister will focus on flamboyant styling and British craftsmanship to sell its vehicles.
Lawrence Whittaker, also the MD of Lister Cars, has this to say in a official press release: “Our aspiration has always been to return the Lister brand to the forefront of people’s minds. The ‘Knobbly’ project has firmly established that the Lister name still has enormous good will and we know we have a brand with a lot of marketable collateral attached to it. Over the coming years our ambitions are to create a world beating brand new hypercar with a list price of somewhere in the region of £2million. We are currently seeking external investors that have the desire to join us on what promises to be an incredible journey, because if we proceed with our ambitious plans, it is fundamental that the entire project is sufficiently resourced in order to deliver a serious, world-beating new product.”
Then there’s the small matter of price. The Lister hypercar, if and when it comes to fruition, will cost 2 million pounds. Over and out.
Source: MotorAuthority