Triumph TR2 reborn as lightweight EV speedster

Secretive London design house reveals conceptual homage to 1953 record-breaker

- STEVE CROPLEY

In a move certain to set the pulses of Triumph lovers racing, a London-based design house has launched an all-new electric two-seater sports concept that not only carries the famous British marque's badge but also does so with the express permission of BMW, which owns the rights to the name today.

The TR25, which has an arrestingly simple and extremely modern shape, is the work of a secretive London-based automotive design house called Makkina.

The concept sets out to show that cars in the electric era can offer simple fun, just as they did in Triumph's heyday.

It uses the chassis, battery and major running gear of BMW's all-electric, rear-drive i3s commuter car that appeared in 2013 and went out of production last year. However, the concept's shape is intended as a homage to the most famous Triumph TR2 of all, the 1953 'Jabbeke' record-breaker that set a new speed mark for sub-2.0-litre production sports cars on the famously straight Belgian motorway 70 years ago.

The name and output of the TR25's designer and builder, Makkina, is well known to the bosses of the giant OEMs who are its clients but means little to the wider public because its work has always been behind closed doors. According to Makkina's founder and director, Michael Ani, this project is the company's firstever public reveal, so as well as marking Triumph's centenary as a car maker and the 70th anniversary of the Triumph TR2, the TR25 concept's emergence also celebrates Makkina's own quartercentury milestone.