Professor Krish Bhaskar who led the unsuccessful 'Triple A' bid for failed British car manufacturer MG Rover Group Limited, has unveiled his vision for the future, following the sale of the Longbridge based business to China’s Nanjing Automotive.

Professor Bhaskar said: “I am currently in discussions with a number of potential partners, to re-establish a well known brand from the heyday of the British motor industry. Codenamed ‘Project Tempest’, development work on a core range of affordable, high performance cars, is now at an advanced stage. The basic package will cost as little as £25,000, offering performance and handling characteristics traditionally associated with cars costing significantly more.”

“Irrespective of specification, all cars will be electronically limited to a top speed of 249.5 km/h (155 mph). Even the base model will possess sprightly acceleration, with a 0-96.5 km/h (60 mph) time of less than 5 seconds. Higher performance models will be capable of 0-161-0 km/h (0-100-0mph) in under 12 seconds.”

However, Professor Bhaskar acknowledges that in developing the new models, drivability and safety have proven as important as straight line speed and raw performance.

“Each car will incorporate a host of active and passive safety features. Project Tempest is about creating a range of exciting and safe cars that are fun to drive, with class leading fuel economy. Impressive performance does not have to be at the expense of safety, or indeed drivability. So for instance, the performance of the car will ultimately be monitored by a series of on board computers. Most of the time, they will do little else other than passively monitor performance. But in the event that the vehicle could leave its performance envelope, they will intervene to ensure that the limits of the car are never exceeded.”

Professor Bhaskar admits to having been inspired by a legendary British roadster. It's clear that the inspiration was the Austin Healey 3000.

“I would dearly like to a see a 21 st. century Healey,” says Professor Bhaskar “Who wouldn’t? Since the performance and engineering specification of the vehicle was signed off a few weeks ago, we’ve been busy finalising body design and have drawn inspiration from the heyday of the British motor industry.”