When Land Rover announced the end of the Defender after 67 years in production, Charles Fawcett from Twisted Automotive forged an agreement with them to buy 240 Defenders at a reduced price of £22,600 per vehicle.
They gave him a 14.8% discount for the bulk order, bringing the final amount to £5,424,000. He didn’t have enough money at the time, but he promised to pay the full amount upon delivery of 239 Defenders.
Like others, he could have flipped the cars and made money along the way. But the restomod market was booming during that time.
So instead of flipping them, he proceeded with a complete overhaul and sold them at a higher price point.
His vision came to fruition just as he planned — he initially sold them for £70,000 ($95,000) to £90,000 ($122,000). Now, Fawcett says, “They’re typically sold for between £180,000 ($244,000) and £320,000 ($433,000).”
“The bit that gets missed in the middle is that we also put 1,500 hours into every single build. That’s 1,500 hours of labour using parts, components and processes developed over 25 years,” Fawcett told LADbible.
“It really is an extraordinary level of craftsmanship and attention to detail that justifies the premium price point, but it was still a huge risk. Ultimately, we build something no one needs but the desire for it is huge. Having that stock of vehicles has enabled the business to grow over the nine year period since production ended and in those nine years we will have turned well over in excess of £50 million.”
Moral: Nice-to-have products also have a huge market. Twisted Automotive is a great example for it.