A report in Autocar says that TVR owner Nikolai Smolensky has ruled out going back into car manufacturing. Smolensky bought TVR in 2004 in controversial circumstances – and he became steadily more controversial until he abandoned the UK in 2006, leaving some unanswered questions.

He bought the company from long-time owner Peter Wheeler for a reputed £15 million. Peter Wheeler was expected to sell TVR to UK venture capitalists, but Smolensky turned up with cash and didn’t seem interested in minor details like due diligence, so Peter Wheeler took the cash.

Smolensky then had a short, tempestuous reign, and TVR went bust in 2006, amid plenty of arguments with the receivers about who owned what. Since then he seemed to have dreamed about making new TVRs.

However, he is now reported to have said that customer expectations means the cars would have to cost £100,000 each, which would be an awful lot for a TVR. That seems a realistic decision – it is just a shame that realism was less in evidence when he was making TVRs.