Ginetta Buys Farbio

Lawrence Tomlinson adds to growing automotive portfolio.

Iconic British car marque Ginetta, has extended its road car proposition by acquiring Bath-based supercar manufacturer Farbio Sports Cars. Driving the potential deal is Ginetta Chairman Lawrence Tomlinson, who acquired Ginetta in 2005 and has pushed the sports car maker to new levels.

With three highly successful one-make championships and the GT winning G50 which has beaten the likes of Aston Martin, the Leeds-based manufacturer has become a major player on the global motorsport scene.

Meanwhile, Farbio, which was established in 2005 by former racing driver Chris Marsh, offers a stunning lightweight British supercar in the form of the Farbio GTS and its enhanced performance models the GTS350 and GTS400. The cars unique selling point comes in its ground-breaking carbon fibre body which is manufactured at specialist facilities at Farbio’s Bath factory – and ensures that the cars are lighter than an average Ford Fiesta at just 1048 kg.

With the top of the range GTS400 reaching an impressive 410bhp, Farbio has produced a super quick road car with the handling of a race car. It has received phenomenal press reviews, with the Sunday Times calling the GTS400 “one of the best cars this country has ever produced”. Farbio has already set up an impressive worldwide Dealer Network and the fusion of the two marques will add to the global presence of the automotive group. A rebadged Ginetta F400 was unveiled today at Silverstone by Tomlinson and Marsh

Chairman Lawrence Tomlinson said: “I have been continually impressed by Farbio – Chris Marsh and his team have established a car which incorporates complex design with obvious beauty. The acquisition by Ginetta will mean that we can further develop on the existing carbon fibre component facility which is housed at Bath whilst using Ginetta’s considerable motorsport credentials and inherently strong brand identity to propel a road car to international acclaim. I am very confident that bringing Farbio under the Ginetta marque will be an incredibly positive move.”

Managing Director, Chris Marsh has followed the Ginetta brand since its acquisition by Tomlinson. He added “The accomplishments that have been made by Ginetta have been fantastic. I have been following Lawrence’s achievements over the past years, having been at Le Mans for his first win in 2006 and am very much looking forward to working with him and his team to expand and develop the brand. Both companies will mutually benefit from their individual qualities and strengths resulting in a strong and enhanced global position in the sports car market”.

Chris Marsh will remain as Managing Director with the existing team set to expand significantly. The Farbio brand will be re-named Ginetta.

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About Ginetta

Ginetta is an iconic British sports car manufacturer which has been building road and race cars since 1958.

Today the Yorkshire-based company is a major player on the motorsport scene in the UK and abroad. Its own three single-make Championships, two of which support the prestigious BTCC series, are renowned for their entertaining close racing.

Multi-marque racing at GT level with the G50 and the Ginetta-Zytek’s LMP1 and LMP2 cars complete the career ladder opportunities starting from 14 years old in the Ginetta Junior car.

In 2008 Ginetta Cars was awarded the title of ‘Small Business of the Year’ by the Motorsport Industry Association and in the same year the Ginetta G50 was crowned Autosport’s Car of the Year. In June 2009, Team LNT raced a Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S in the premier LMP1 class at Le Mans with Formula One icon Nigel Mansell competing in the same car at the Le Mans Series finale in September.

Ginetta’s latest launch the G40, was unveiled to international acclaim at Autosport International in January 2010. The multi-platform road and race car will hit grids in April 2010.