This British Sports Car Brand Is Trying to Make a Comeback Again

What is Marcos?

The British car industry is, or rather, was awash with plucky sports car manufacturers. Some prime examples include TVR, Westfield, and Lotus. The thing is, those marques seem to be constantly on the brink of bankruptcy, or have been resurrected more times than Lazarus with mixed results.

Marcos is one of several who have seen many revivals over the decades. Established in 1959 by Jem Marsh and Frank Costin, it built several lightweight coupes and roadsters, along with pint-sized cars that would make a kei car blush. The original firm went into liquidation in 1972, but was revived in 1981, 2002, 2004, and most recently, in 2010. The attempted restarts in 2010 failed to materialize any production models, and the last models it sold were the Marcasite TS250 and TS500, which were axed in 2007.

Nth Time's the Charm

Nearly 20 years since the last Marcos-badged vehicle was first built, the company is staging yet another comeback attempt. Now under new management (again), Marcos is in the process of shaking down its first all-new car in decades. Its return was announced about a year ago, but it actually looks like things have progressed nicely since then.

The company calls it Project Mosquito, and, in its own words, it's 'a one-off evaluation vehicle, designed to test our in-house body, structure and systems integration capabilities.' It's constructed out of glass fiber, just like past models, and it uses components from BMW and Mini.

Project Mosquito

Speaking to Car Magazine, current owner Howard Nash reckons the one-off model can be turned into a production model. 'There was never any intention of that, but the feedback has been extraordinary,' said the businessman. He intends to sell the Mosquito as a track-day special, something along the lines of what Caterham and Westfield have been doing for decades. The difference is, it's far from a Lotus-derived design.

Instead, it's a modern interpretation of the Mini Marcos that was sold in the '70s. That car had its fair share of motorsport success back in the day, and the Mosquito aims to follow in its footsteps. So far, the Mosquito has stayed true to the Mini Marcos' ethos of offering a strong amount of power in a lightweight chassis and diminutive dimensions.

Target Launch

Marcos plans to release its all-new model before the end of 2026. It's an ambitious target, for sure, but the company is determined to make good on its promise. The Mosquito is set to enter production as a limited-run track car, but a second model is underway already. It'll be another lightweight special, but it'll be a mid-engined sports car rather than a front-engined model.

Nash says it doesn't have a body yet, but the rolling chassis has been undergoing tests. So far, the only details he's mentioned are that it'll have about 350 hp and weigh as light as 1,433 lbs. That should give it a pretty insane power-to-weight ratio of 538 hp per ton, which is about the same as a Bugatti Veyron.

That said, Nash wants Marcos to be a (relatively) accessible brand. It won't be building 'bespoke' cars that will sell for millions; the marque's current owner believes its cars should be within reach for many to enjoy.

View the full article