Caparo CEO Dead, Massive British Steelmaker And Once-supercar Maker In Doubt
Caparo Industries chairman Angad Paul died Nov. 9 in an apparent suicide just days after the steelmaking company his father founded, and Angad ran, announced massive job cuts and forced administration in Britain, according to The Guardian (via Autoblog).
Caparo Industries is the parent company of Caparo Vehicle Technologies, which produced the Caparo T1 and was planning a higher-end version of the car to go on sale.
The Caparo T1, which was developed with help from McLaren engineers, lived on the fringes of the supercar market with only 16 examples sold in the UK for around $360,000. It was also built at a short-lived plant in the U.S. Prince Albert of Monaco helped unveil the car in 2006 and it later appeared in several racing events around the world, including Goodwood.
Paul, who took over the company from his father in 1996, expanded the business beyond steelmaking into cars, design, hotels, private equity investments and aerospace. Paul is listed as a producer in the Guy Richie movies “Snatch” and “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.”
According to The Telegraph, Caparo Industries faced difficult competition from cheap imported steel, a rising British pound and high energy prices. In October, the company looked for funding to keep it from going bankrupt.
The steelmaker employed roughly 1,800 people — of which more than 450 were recently laid off — and the company’s future is in doubt.
The next-generation T1, dubbed T1 Evolution, was reportedly being shown to interested buyers.
More by Aaron Cole
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I could have understand the Caparo T1 if it were a separate FIA race class. It looks gorgeous, like an enclosed F1 car. However, the deceased would have done a better job if he had looked where the automotive market is heading.
Wasn't this the car that kept trying to burn itself to the ground, including when several journalists were inside, as well as Jason Plato? (Leading to Top Gear calling him "baked potato" IIRC.) Aside from that little issue, it also seemed to break constantly. Doesn't seem like it would be a huge loss if it went away, there are loads of other hyper fast track day specials available from tiny British firms, like Radical whose cars actually work and dominate lap times pretty much every where they show up.