Bristol Cars to Be Reborn in 2026

Britain’s Bristol Cars will be back on the road in 2026, just in time to celebrate 80 years since it was founded.

That’s according to Chairman and CEO Jason Wharton who bought the company’s assets at auction in 2020 after Bristol went into liquidation. Not for the first time either, with the contrarian carmaker also going into administration in 2011. In 2016 its new owners unveiled the Bullet sports car but it never made it into production.

Founded in 1945 as a spin-off from the Bristol Aeroplane Company, the firm produced its first car, the 400, a year later based on the pre-war BMW 326, 327 and 328. It was in the 1950s that Bristol truly crafted its own identity, with big quirky coupes that combined luxury and speed, courtesy of their Chrysler V-8 engines.

Judging from the image shared by Wharton Bristol’s revival looks set to be led by a modernized version of the 1969 411, which came with a 6.2-liter Chrysler eight. When Wharton first bought Bristol he had grand plans to make a leader in electric vehicles, although now he appears to have rolled back that ambition.

Replying to comments on his LinkedIn post showing the ‘new’ car Wharton said that a combustion-powered version would come first, followed by a hybrid and then a pure electric edition.

Wharton describes his plan for the future as “Vision 8.0” and says the aim is “To revive Bristol Cars as a contemporary coachbuilder for connoisseurs of luxury grand touring automobiles and experiences worldwide in time for the 80th anniversary of the marques founding in 2026.”

The word “coachbuilder” is key, suggesting that rather than engineering a car from scratch Bristol will rebody a vehicle from another manufacturer. We’ll find out soon enough.