News : Revived Jensen to be built at Browns Lane

Sam Skelton

New Interceptor will be a four seat GT with an aluminium chassis and aluminium body

Jensen’s Interceptor has been the subject of many ‘modernisations’ – first with the Series IV project in the late 1980s and latterly with the Jensen Interceptor S and Interceptor R of Jensen International Automotive Limited. Now the owners of the Jensen brand, Healey Sports Cars Switzerland Limited, have appointed CPP Global Holdings Limited to create a new Interceptor for the 21st Century.

CPP will be continuing the development of this car, said already to be at an advanced stage, at their new production facility built upon the former Jaguar site at Browns Lane, Coventry. The car will be a four seat GT, with an all new aluminium chassis and a coachbuilt aluminium body.

‘The Jensen design team has respected and honoured the great heritage and attributes of the original Interceptor, while injecting a contemporary edge and advanced technologies that will ensure it appeals to the passionate, discerning motoring enthusiast of today.’ stated Brendan O’Toole, the founder and CEO of CPP Global Holdings. The company has also recently acquired Bowler Off Road Limted and is still negotiating to buy the Dutch supercar manufacturer Spyker from the troubled Saab Automobile AB’s owner, Swedish Automobile N.V.

Liam Cardiff, Director of Healey Sports Cars Switzerland, expressed enthusiasm when asked about the partnership with CPP. ‘CPP is the perfect partner to revive the iconic Jensen Interceptor. With the Jensen design team integrated into an organisation with much greater resources and broader expertise, our dream of seeing the Jensen and Interceptor badges once again adorning the bonnets of beautiful, modern, British-built GT cars has come closer to reality.’

Digital renderings of the new car have been released, and it is believed that the car will be shown for the first time during the final quarter of 2012. Deliveries of what is likely to be a very exclusive car are expected to commence in 2014.

 

16 Comments

  1. This is gonna sound strange.. but I REALLY hope that it looks a bit different when it’s prodoctionaised because the above just looks a bit too flat and long for the shape.. the dimensions of the original were a big part of it’s elegance, trying to add more sleekiness has, in my view, actually broken the design.

    On the other hand, fantastic to see the car re imagined.

  2. I was wondering when the next Jensen revival was due.

    I think this project is fantastic it is a modern reinterpretation of the classic interceptor although, I agree with the above post, it is a bit long.

    Can’t wait to see the models of it.

  3. Good luck to them. Jensen used to make some rather memorable cars, including in more recent times with the CV-8 and SV-8.

    On a word of caution however, I hope that the efforts of CPP Global Holdings Ltd to acquire Spyker Cars does not result in them spreading their interests and commitments to each cause too thinly as I, for one, would not want to see Jensen to become a victim of this.

  4. Good news to hear the legendry Interceptor name will be revived on an all new car! From past impressions I would expect the actual car when produced will look a little different to the digital artists images. As was the case with the MK3 Focus… I think some earlier prototype pictures looked better than the real thing.

  5. @ Dr Bobby Love

    With that level of ground clearance and the amount of overhang featured on the car in the digital image, a production version that keeps those proportions will only be useful to owners who don’t have to negotiate slight inclines, let alone speed bumps or hills!

    The image has definitely exaggerated these aspects of the conceptual design.

  6. The back end of that looks a lot like the jet powered Concept that Jaguar built… Looks good though, but as most of these artists impressions look squashed with huge wheels i doubt it will be much like that in production.

    Still i might as well say it before someone else does… Oooooh JLR could licence that and call it a Rover. [sarc]

  7. @ David 3500.

    Yeah, I see you’re point.. but I was assuming these would change, it’s more the over all proportions that seem to have been stretched a bit to far, a little past what the shape a design can pull off, to my eye anyway…

    I think the problem may lay in the fact this takes so much from the original. Don’t get me wrong, this is great, but if you compare it to other retro rides, the mini being the obvious.. they change allot more than the cues lull you into thinking… The beetle’s another, looks nothing like a beetle in reality, but just enough for our minds to go “Hey, a Beetle”

    With the above renderings, it’s taken a little to much of the original and as a result ends up looks like a deformed original, rather than an up dated re design…

    The grille’s a great case in point.. It’s been squashed, but it stimulates such memories of the original, it looks incorrect in comparison.

    All just my own thoughts…

  8. I like it as is. Ive seen a few of the originals in the flesh and theyre a slightly dumpy shape impo. The best retro is that which hints but doesnt copy. Id be happy to own one, although I think in black. The 16/75 tail looks perfect on this. I hope it all succeeds.

  9. Hope this does go ahead. The rise of CPP is worth keeping an eye on – another company with aspirations to make money on the back of traditional upmarket UK brands, this time backed by Russian billions (as was TVR…)

  10. 1st: It looks strange in drawings.
    2nd: Is the world really waiting for another supercar/GT?
    3rd: How many people still know Jensen?
    4th: The economy is not exactly OK right now.
    Don’t misunderstand me: I love the original Interceptor. But it’s 35 years ago Jensen ceased to exist. And besides that: it’s not the first time either someone tried to bring Jensen back to life.
    I’ll keep my fingers crossed…

  11. I love the original Interceptor, i just want to see this in the metal a computer Render is nice but i think i shall be excited on the day it comes back.

  12. When I had my Interceptor (Series I) I dreaded driving up the hill to the school where I worked as it was plagued with some vicious speed bumps that scraped on the exhausts every time, even without anything in the back! Hope the ground clearance comes up a bit…

  13. looking good. I think CPP should do more contract work and use a modular adaptive chassis system so that they can put other companies designs on them. Different engines can be added with differing states of tune dependent on the market the companies aim for. It’d cut development costs for sure.

  14. I looks rather good. while i sort of like the old Interceptor I always thought it looked like two different cars joined together – almost as if it were designed in Japan. but this one looks great I hope they build it. alex

  15. Something seems to of been overlooked here. Healey Sports cars Switzerland was called HFI and bought the Healey name from the Healey family in a blaze of Publicised news back in 2006 with a chap called Tim Fenna from Frontline Spridget. He headed up this anglo american company but is now not a director. They were to develop a new big Healey and even produced a sketch of the car but nothing was seen or heard of a new Healey again. They do however have a website called http://www.Healeysportscars.com which popped up this year but no image just words.
    I wonder if this is another pie in the sky sketch about the Jensen interceptor. I sincerely hope not as it would be splendid but I cant help but be a little sceptical as nothing has come of the Healey in the last 5 years!
    And what about Jensen International Automotive who make the current Jensen Interceptor. Be interesting to hear their take on this.

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