CPP : Coventry’s newest supercar maker

Keith Adams  

Bowler Nemesis
Bowler Nemesis

You might not have heard of CPP Global Holdings Limited but the company, which operates under the trading name of Coventry Prototype Panels, now seems set to emerge as the UK’s newest supercar manufacturer.

The company signed a Memorandum of Understanding to acquire the assets of the Spyker sports car business from its publicly-listed holding company, Spyker Cars N.V., in February and has also recently completed the purchase Bowler Off Road Limited, the Derbyshire-based manufacturer of the Nemesis high-performance cross country racer, for an undisclosed sum.

CPP specialises in the prototyping and low-volume manufacture of vehicles and components. This includes full vehicle chassis, body-in-white, stretched vehicles, armoured vehicles, closures and vehicle hardware. However, the acquisiton of Bowler and the proposed purchase of Spyker places CPP in the supercar manufacturing realm in its own right – up to now it’s been working alongside the likes of Aston Martin and continues to assist with the production of that company’s flagship One-77 model. 

Bowler was founded in 1999 and produces the Land Rover-based Nemesis high performance off-road racer which has been developed to comply with the FIA T1 specification for the World Cup Cross Country Championship. Development and engineering will remain at Bowler’s premises in Belper, Derbyshire, but the production of all models, including the roadgoing Nemesis EXR variant, will be transferred to CPP’s facility in Coventry from early 2012. 

Drew Bowler, the Managing Director (and founder) of Bowler, said: ‘CPP will bring first-rate commercial and manufacturing expertise to our business, ensuring it meets the quality and integrity that our customers will expect. There are dramatic plans for the business over the longer term.’ 

AROnline will wait with interest to see whether the so far anonymous CPP can become a UK-based supercar superpower in the coming years. However, in the meantime, these two recent announcements look like great news for Coventry. 

Keith Adams

3 Comments

  1. I’ve always fancied a Bowler – they will become Coventry’s answer to Mad Max Extra. I was reading up on CPP and it’s an interesting company. Britain needs more high-end engineering companies like this as otherwise 200+ years of engineering skills will rapidly be consigned to the history books.

  2. The possibility of a bonkers supercar firm and bonkers off road car firm becoming one? That is off the clock insanity. Hamster will be chuffed and no doubt use his ‘driving god’ phrase again… 🙂

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