# Project Kimber > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Project_Kimber > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Project_Kimber.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Kimber > Source revision: 1259795778 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Project Kimber** was the industry group which intended to restart production of the discontinued [Smart Roadster](/source/Smart_Roadster) [car](/source/Car) in the [United Kingdom](/source/United_Kingdom) in 2006, following their unsuccessful bid for [MG Rover Group](/source/MG_Rover_Group) in 2005. ## MG Cars Following the demise of [MG Rover Group](/source/MG_Rover_Group) in 2005, Project Kimber submitted an unsuccessful bid to buy the company out of administration. Project Kimber was named after [Cecil Kimber](/source/Cecil_Kimber), MG's founder. During the bid process, David James was quoted as saying: "This is the last chance to save Britain's largest independent carmaker from falling into overseas ownership."[1] ## Smart Roadster/AC Ace In 2006, [David James](/source/David_James,_Baron_James_of_Blackheath) entered talks with [MG Rover](/source/MG_Rover)'s new owners the [Nanjing Automobile Group](/source/Nanjing_Automobile_Group) to buy the [MG](/source/MG_Cars) brand in order to produce a number of sports cars based on the out of production [Smart Roadster](/source/Smart_Roadster) design following discussions with [DaimlerChrysler](/source/DaimlerChrysler) to buy the Roadster's design, technology and equipment for approximately [£](/source/Pound_sterling)13 million.[2] The equipment would then be transferred from the [Smart](/source/Smart_(marque)) factory to a former [Dunlop](/source/Dunlop_Tyres) tyre factory in [Coventry](/source/Coventry) where the Roadster would be built under the MG brand. It was understood that Project Kimber was being funded by [Grant Gazdig](/source/Grant_Gazdig)'s [Access-Capital](/source/Access-Capital) firm,[3] as well as a private equity firm called European American Securities.[citation needed] [Barrie Wills](/source/Barrie_Wills), another key member of Project Kimber, formerly of [Jaguar](/source/Jaguar_Cars), [Reliant Scimitar](/source/Reliant_Scimitar) and [DeLorean](/source/DeLorean_Motor_Company), and founder of de Montfort Resources which held the Agreements with [Smart](/source/Smart_(marque)). On 20 July 2006 motoring [website](/source/Website) *4car* reported rumours that David James was in talks with [Alan Lubinsky](/source/Alan_Lubinsky), the owner of [AC Cars](/source/AC_Cars), to use the famous British name on his sports cars.[citation needed] In a press release dated 31 August 2006 it was stated that agreement had been reached with [Acedes Holdings](/source/Acedes_Holdings), the current owners of the AC brand, to use the AC name on the new car. On 4 September 2006, *AutoWired* reported that engineer [Gordon Murray](/source/Gordon_Murray), who created the [McLaren F1](/source/McLaren_F1), was to lead the Project Kimber engineering team.[4] Also joining was [John Piper](/source/John_Piper_(engineer)), formerly of the [Williams Formula One](/source/WilliamsF1) team who recently worked on the [JCB](/source/J._C._Bamford) [Dieselmax](/source/Dieselmax) car which in August 2006 set a new diesel land speed record. The revised car was to use a 1.0 litre, three-cylinder [Mitsubishi Motors](/source/Mitsubishi_Motors) engine in both normally aspirated (71bhp) and turbocharged (84bhp) forms as used in the [Mitsubishi i](/source/Mitsubishi_i).[5] Also the original Smart clutchless transmission was to be replaced by a [Getrag](/source/Getrag)-supplied manual gearbox. Though remaining similar to the Smart original, the Roadster was planned to have minor makeover. Former [Jaguar](/source/Jaguar_(car)) designer [Keith Helfet](/source/Keith_Helfet) was signed up to restyle its front and tail ends to freshen it up, and to distinguish it from the original Smart Roadster. Artists impressions of the new car, now referred to as the AC Ace, were released in December 2006,[6] and while delays to the project were acknowledged at the end of 2006, production was scheduled for 2007 despite a £65m investment not being formalised.[7] The tooling brought from the Smart factory at Hambach was planned to be installed at Project Kimber's factory in South Wales and production was expected to start in the summer of 2007, but by June 2007, Barrie Wills, chief executive of the Project Kimber consortium admitted they were "still soldiering on with funding Project Kimber"[8] but with no sign of prototypes or production vehicles. Prices for the new AC were expected to start at £13,000 with 8,000 Roadsters planned to be built in the first year of production.[9] By December 2008 Project Kimber's official site appeared to have been closed down and in April 2009 a new AC Ace V8 project was announced in Auto Express suggesting that the Kimber Project deal had fallen through.[10] ## References 1. ["Rover administrators 'disappointed' by bid"](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2005/jul/19/motoring.lifeandhealth?INTCMP=SRCH). *[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)*. 2005-07-19. 1. [The Times 17 February 2006 Nanjing in talks to sell MG Rover brand to bid rival](https://web.archive.org/web/20110612135718/http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/china/article731854.ece) 1. Coventry Evening Telegraph 22 February 2006 1. [Mclaren's Murray to help Kimber' AC project](http://www.autowired.com/news/article.aspx?ExpandStory=True&storyid=16725)[dead link] 1. ["AC Ace project is a Smart move"](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/2744611/AC-Ace-project-is-a-Smart-move.html). *[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)*. 9 December 2006. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160707071807/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/2744611/AC-Ace-project-is-a-Smart-move.html) 2016-07-07 at the Wayback Machine. 1. [AC Ace](http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/News/Search-Results/First-Official-Pictures/AC-Ace/) 1. [Autocar 7 December 2006](http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/223520/) 1. [Birmingham Post 12 June 2007](http://www.birminghampost.net/birmingham-business/tm_headline=private-equity-firms-may-target-jaguar&method=full&objectid=19284294&siteid=50002-name_page.html) 1. [Welsh Assembly press release 19 July 2006](https://archive.today/20120722115830/http://wales.gov.uk/newsroom/businessandeconomy/2006/4029700/;jsessionid=jLy9MKPd6G8Fknscr1rFkDWGzgmZBfqQnnGd7NdZc32f23xGGZkf!-463154188?lang=en&ts=1) 1. [Auto Express 17 April 2009](http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpressnews/235293/ac_cobras_comeback.html?CMP=NLC-Newsletters) ## External links - [Project Kimber official site (no longer active)](https://web.archive.org/web/20061210093222/http://www.projectkimber.com/) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Project Kimber](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Kimber) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Kimber?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.