Currently reading: Zenos sports car firm goes into administration

The Norfolk-based company found considerable acclaim with its lightweight E10 line-up, yet Zenos has now had to close its doors

Zenos Cars, the Norfolk-based sports car maker, has entered administration, the company has confirmed.

Zenos has now been saved from administration by a consortium led by AC Cars

The company blamed a recent downturn in trade as the primary reason, adding that a spate of cancelled export orders late last year caused a funding shortfall, which ultimately led to the company's demise. Irvin Cohen and Gary Shankland of Begbies Traynor have been appointed as administrators. 

Read our review of the Zenos E10 R here

Zenos boss Mark Edwards said: "It is with great disappointment that the board has had to take this step. We still believe that our products offer unrivalled affordable fun and we have already made very good progress in developing the next product in our strategy."

Zenos was set-up in 2012 by ex-Caterham and Lotus employees Ansar Ali and Mark Edwards. Ali departed the firm in 2015 but remains a shareholder, since joining McLaren, and Edwards has led the company since.

The firm was set-up to offer an alternative to the likes of the Lotus Elise and Caterham Seven, and it based itself close to Lotus’s headquarters and had staff with experience from Lotus, Caterham and Zenos.

The first car was the Zenos E10, a no-roof sports car that came in at £25,000 and was created to try and offer serious performance machinery at an accessible price. More potent E10 S and E10 R models have followed since.

Read all of our Zenos reviews here

Back in September, Zenos claimed it had its production slots for the rest of 2016 filled, and that it had orders going into 2017. It made the announcement as it delivered its 100th car.

This year it planned to follow-up the E10 with the E11, a version with a removable soft-top roof, and the E12, a fixed-roof coupe. The pair were conceived to be more accessible, and bring Zenos to a wider market.

Mark Tisshaw

mark-tisshaw-autocar
Title: Editor

Mark is a journalist with more than a decade of top-level experience in the automotive industry. He first joined Autocar in 2009, having previously worked in local newspapers. He has held several roles at Autocar, including news editor, deputy editor, digital editor and his current position of editor, one he has held since 2017.

From this position he oversees all of Autocar’s content across the print magazine, autocar.co.uk website, social media, video, and podcast channels, as well as our recent launch, Autocar Business. Mark regularly interviews the very top global executives in the automotive industry, telling their stories and holding them to account, meeting them at shows and events around the world.

Mark is a Car of the Year juror, a prestigious annual award that Autocar is one of the main sponsors of. He has made media appearances on the likes of the BBC, and contributed to titles including What Car?Move Electric and Pistonheads, and has written a column for The Sun.

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Ravon 18 January 2017

How much state money ?

How much of our money went into this venture, they seemed to often be winning grants for development ?
spanco 18 January 2017

Oh no!

Saddened to hear this, a great looking car that was thoroughly well engineered. Met some of the staff a couple of times at car events; they were nothing but welcoming....
GODFATHER 18 January 2017

Caterham to the rescue

Wasn't Caterham looking to build a affordable more road biased car to sell along the Seven. Put a roof on this and you have a proper everyday sports car. Madness not to.
KenF 19 January 2017

that is a really good idea

that is a really good idea