Triumph TR2 returns as lightweight electric sports car

Manchester-raised Ani, who trained in design at the Royal College of Art, says his company’s speciality is taking brands and projecting them forward. With the TR25, he says, “it was important to create a statement that suits the marque’s British identity in a context relevant to today.”

The project took about a year to complete, beginning after Ani was inspired by a single black-and-white image of car and driver. “We were hooked on the car’s record-breaking capability, and how the design helped make that possible,” he says. Concepts were first drawn on paper, then transferred to CAS (computer-sided styling). Once the design was validated, it was milled as a full-size model from high-density foam. Even in full size, it is undoubtedly smaller than most cars, being just four metres long and barely one metre tall, around 50cm lower than the BMW i3 S donor car.

The finished TR25 show car, built in Germany, is startlingly simple but plainly echoes the essential features of the Jabbeke TR2, including its short front overhang and longer, narrower tail. Like the record-breaker, it’s a single-seater (with its driver on the right) and the door swings upwards to allow access. The seat is in blue leather, like the original. The headlights – which between them spell out '25' – echo the original’s bug-eyed lighting design. There’s a buttress behind the driver’s head to provide roll-over protection and it includes a discreet rear-view camera. Even the 1950s Triumph badge has been modernised.

Inside, a modern steering wheel design recalls the spoked affairs of 1950s Triumphs and has a single, self-centring dial in its hub. A simple central binnacle carries three more dials showing speed, charge level and range.

The TR25 even comes with an impressive set of specifications: an estimated kerb weight of 1095kg (200kg less than an i3 S), plus notional 0-62mph acceleration of 5.2sec and a top speed of 115mph. The touring range, an estimated 190 miles, also benefits from the TR25’s lighter weight.

The original TR2 record-breaker, whose 124.889mph narrowly beat a 120mph mark set by its rival, the Sunbeam Alpine, resides today in the British Motor Museum at Gaydon, having been bought for the nation in 2020 using a £250,000 National Heritage Memorial Fund grant. 

Based around a standard TR2 but with 'optional' aerodynamic addenda such as an undershield and wheel spats, it was actually a pre-production model, officially unveiled at the 1953 Earl’s Court show. Triumph aficionados say the record, with its attendant publicity, strengthened Triumph’s marketing after a shaky start with the poor-performing TR1, helping the company take its share of booming US post-war sales of British sports cars.

Will the TR25 spring into production and stimulate another life for Triumph cars? There’s currently no comment about that from the builders, but it’s very unlikely. It’s far more likely that the TR25 will provide a way for Ani and Makkina to progress their business into a new phase. Even so, the TR25 definitely hits its creators’ target – to make a small EV roadster as desirable as roadsters ever were.