Westfield, the sports and kit car manufacturer founded in the Midlands 44 years ago as a rival to Caterham, has been sold to a Dutch-German company after going into voluntary liquidation.
Driving-Fun, one of Europe’s largest track day organisers, plans to continue building existing Westfield models and develop new road and racing models for what it sees as a strong and active body of enthusiasts.
Since its formation in 1982, Westfield is estimated to have put around 16,000 cars on the road.
Its new ownerm Dutch-born Peter Tunissen, founded Driving-Fun from scratch 20 years ago instead of going to university like his friends. Today, his company stages more than 100 track days per year, owns two hotels at the Nürburgring and has its headquarters at a track of its own, Circuit Meppen, located about three hours east of Amsterdam, just over the German border in Lower Saxony.
Circuit Meppen is located the grounds of a former power station, where Driving-Fun already has a 10,000sq ft factory that Tunissen believes will be ideal for the continuing manufacture of Westfield cars and kits, as well as the spare parts that he already knows are urgently needed by existing owners.
Tunissen said his deal extends only to the Westfield side of the failed UK business. The Chesil side, set up to manufacture Porsche 356 replicas, remains unsold, although the UK vendors say “conversations” are currently under way with potential buyers.
Westfield’s former boss, Nigel Trilk, said he knows Driving-Fun and Tunissen well from previous contacts and believes he is “a very positive person with great vision”.
Tunissen made clear that the Westfield acquisition “is definitely not just a routine business decision”. For years he admired the British-built cars’ combination of high performance and affordability and eventually decided to join the Netherlands’ thriving Westfield Cup racing series, which has been popular for decades and, unlike many series, survived the Covid pandemic in a healthy state.
Today, Tunissen uses Westfields for arrive-and-drive customers at Driving-Fun, as well as running more serious race cars. He estimates that there are around 60 race-eligible cars in the Netherlands alone, plus 300 road cars in the country's thriving Westfield Club.
However, he is acutely aware of the concerns of the UK’s much larger Westfield community, spearheaded by its “amazing” Westfield Sports Car Club.
