MMI Avocet ready for sale

While its unlikely anyone remembers the Reynard-designed ‘Strathcarron’ of 10 years ago, the doomed mid-engined sports car has been brought back to life thanks to the insistence of its principal backer, Martin Miles. Renamed the MMI Avocet after its most fervent supporter, the car weighs a tiny 650kg without fluids and will sport a 2.0L Ford Sigma engine outputting either 150 or 225bhp. The transmission is also a Ford unit, which comes as no surprise considering that Roush Engineering played a hand in its development.

Martin Miles was one of the Strathcarron’s original backers but when that business went under he bought the designs and prototypes and hired race-car builder Raqy Mallock to build on the ideas put forth in the original Strathcarron and thus the MMI Avocet was born. Mike Reeves, a car designer who worked on the original Strathcarron, gave the new car its current shape demonstrating just how much passion this project has brought out of the people that worked on it.

First-year production is expected to be around 50 cars per year, with a goal of producing 100 cars per year in the near future. The first 5 cars are being built by Roush and customers brave enough to purchase these will be asked to “be partners in something great”.

And as for performance, Martin Miles says that the 225bhp model will be almost supercar-quick thanks to its lightweight construction. Sounds like an interesting alternative to a Lotus Elise, although the initial buyers will likely be a brave bunch to fork out 25,000 pounds for an independently made car.

Source: http://www.motorauthority.com/news/news/mmi-avocet-ready-for-sale/