More than 50 jobs lost as Dudley sports car maker Westfield ceases trading

All jobs have gone at Westfield Sports Cars and Westfield Autonomous Vehicles on Gibbons Industrial Park, Dudley Road, Kingswinford.

Mark Bowen of MB Insolvency, Droitwich, was appointed as administrator of the businesses on June 9.

Mr Bowen said the company had ceased trading the day before and redundancies had taken affect before his appointment.

Westfield, formed in 1983, made two-seater kit cars and complete Westfield and Chesil vehicles, while the autonomous vehicles business had developed the Pod, used at Heathrow to connect Terminal 5 business parking to the main building.

It had employed more than 50 workers at its 20,000 sq metres premises.

Mr Bowen said: "Our focus is on trying to see if anyone is out there with an interest or appetite for resurrecting something.

"There has already been a considerable amount of interest including in buying component parts and vehicles."

Mr Bowen said he was also liaising with creditors.

"I hope that within the next two weeks we will have an idea if a positive solution is possible," he added,

Westfield has sold more than 13,000 of its British-made sports cars across the world since it was formed.

Chief executive Dr Julian Turner's family bought Westfield in 2006. He was named the Institute of Directors' West Midlands director of the year in 2019, the same year it bought Chesil Motor Company.

Westfield Sports Cars had just £25,722 in cash at the end of last year, along with stock worth £2.2 million and debits of £1.76 million.

Westfield Autonomous Vehicles had also been developing an autonomous road sweeper.