The TVR Cerbera is a 2-door 2+2 coupé from TVR, built from 1996 to 2006, when airbags, anti-lock brakes and Japanese build quality became the world standard. Under the bonnet: 4.0 L TVR Speed Six engine. Damian McTaggart drew it.
Where it came from
The TVR Cerbera is a car manufactured by the British company TVR between 1996 and 2006. Its name is derived from Cerberus, the three-headed beast of Greek legend that guarded the entrance of Hades. It is a coupé with a hardtop roof and a 2+2 seating layout that has been described as a sports car and a grand touring car. Introduced at the 1993 London Motor Show, the Cerbera was the third car manufactured by TVR under the leadership of Peter Wheeler (the first was the Griffith and the second was the Chimaera). The car marked three milestones for the Wheeler-led company:
The first hard-top—the Griffith and the Chimaera were both convertibles The first 2+2—TVRs were traditionally two-seaters The first to be powered by TVR's own engines—historically, TVR had purchased engines from mainstream manufacturers like Rover, Ford and Triumph
Under the skin
Power comes from 4.0 L TVR Speed Six engine; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It weighs 1100 kg. It shifts through a 5-speed manual. The layout matters: the engine sits behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, which puts the mass in the middle of the car and is why mid-engined cars change direction the way they do. The wheelbase is 2566 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Its family tree is legible: assembly was at Blackpool, England, United Kingdom. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Alfa Romeo 156, the Lotus Elise, the Škoda Auto Škoda Octavia — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the TVR catalogue sit the TVR 3000S and the TVR 350SE.