The long-lost marque was unveiled at Salon Privé at Blenheim Palace

A famous Bristol car maker that went bust during the pandemic owing millions of pounds has announced its return.

Bristol Cars – a British manufacturer of luxury vehicles – unveiled its first completed ‘Fighter’ built on an original, unused chassis, at Salon Privé at Blenheim Palace on Wednesday (September 2).

Originally developed in the early 2000s, the two-seater supercar was Bristol’s final production model before manufacturing ceased in 2011. It is powered by an 8.0-litre V10 and has a top speed of up to 210 mph.

It is understood that vehicle manufacturing will take place in the UK in partnership with an unnamed British company.

The brand’s revival is being led by director Paul King, while Richard Hackett, a former adviser to the company, is re-joining as chair. The Fighter programme is the first stage of a wider attempt to revive the marque.

“Bringing Bristol Cars back is about far more than reviving a name; it is about bringing back the spirit of a marque that has always stood apart,” said Mr King.

“Bristol has a remarkable story, from its roots in aviation and engineering to the extraordinary and exclusive cars it crafted. We want to honour that heritage while giving Bristol a future that is every bit as distinctive.

“To bring Bristol back to making cars in Britain, and with Richard Hackett returning to the company, we have brought together an exceptional combination of heritage, knowledge, engineering and craftsmanship. This is the beginning of Bristol’s return, and there is much more to come.”

Bristol Cars said four further Fighters will be completed using original unused chassis’, drawings and parts in the coming months and could be configured in either right or left-hand drive. They will then be sold and exported to major markets, including the US.

“Bristol has always been about doing things differently,” said Mr Hackett. “It was never a mass-market manufacturer. It built exceptional cars in small numbers for people who appreciated their individuality, engineering and character.”

Bristol Car’s return comes six years after the business fell into liquidation. The historic company was founded in 1945 as part of the Bristol Aeroplane Company – an enormous aircraft works in Filton that employed around 70,000 men and women during the Second World War.

When the war was over, the company began making cars in order to keep people in work. The 400 was the first car to go into production in 1946. It was inspired by the pre-war 326 and 328 BMWs, had a top speed of 95.7mph and a six-cylinder two-litre engine, making it unusually efficient for the time.

But the business faced a number of financial difficulties over the years. Bristol Cars first went into administration in 2011, with some 22 staff in Filton being made redundant.

Kamkorp Autokraft later acquired the intellectual property and goodwill and subsequently licenced it to Bristol Cars. Then, a decade ago, the brand announced its return at Goodwood with a limited edition Bullet – a two seater speedster priced at £250,000 – but the car did not go into production.

Bristol Car’s return this year comes as the company marks 80 years since its founding.

“To return as chairman, particularly in Bristol’s 80th anniversary year, is a tremendous privilege,” added Mr Hackett. “This is an opportunity to respect everything that made Bristol special while giving the marque a future.”

The industry in Northern Ireland is making the argument that it has a special case due to direct competition with businesses in the Republic.

Michael Cadden, the chair of Hospitality Ulster, said: “We are currently victims of our geography.”

In the Republic of Ireland, hospitality VAT on food is 9% and 13.5% on accommodation.

In Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK hospitality VAT is 20%.

Mr Cadden, who runs the Lusty Beg Island Resort in Fermanagh, said that while there had always been VAT differentials the ability of Northern Ireland businesses to deal with that has been “eroded” by other cost increases.

“That’s been eroded through increases in the National Living Wage, increases in National Insurance contributions and huge increases in the supply chain,” he told the NI Affairs Committee.

Selina Horshi, Managing Director at White Horse Hotel in Londonderry, said that for every £100 of sales she is paying almost £5 in additional VAT compared to a similar business across the border.

“That quickly adds up to thousands of pounds in a business each year that we simply don’t have.”

She said it would be “disingenuous” of the industry to suggest that a VAT cut would all be passed through to lower consumer prices.

She also said that would be “funding a sale” and instead gave the example of how it would allow her to offer more competitive rates to tour operators who bring in large numbers of guests.

Demand from that sector was down in July because she could not be competitive enough on price, she added.

“If I had the ability to lower my prices to retain that, I could do a percentage of my business at that lower rate without losing the margin.”

‘More support will be required to ensure North East businesses benefit from the positive effects of AI on businesses’

More than a third of North East businesses say AI remains its biggest challenge, a new survey shows. New research from accountancy and advisory firm BDO LLP reveals that 38% of North East businesses rank the adoption of artificial intelligence and technological change as their top concern over the next six months, outweighing high employment costs and higher energy and fuel costs.

As a result, 35% plan to accelerate investment in AI or automation, to help improve productivity. Earlier this summer, the Government published figures showing that ‘self-reported’ use of AI in UK businesses has increased from around 12% to around 35% since late 2023, with larger firms more likely to have adopted AI.

It follows the appointment of eight Industrial Strategy AI Sector Champions, who will be responsible for setting a clear national vision for how AI should be adopted in their sector. The sectors include clean energy, professional and business services, advanced manufacturing and digital and technology.

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Despite the spike in AI adoption, BDO’s bi-monthly Mid-Market Tracker – a survey of 500 businesses with revenues between £10m and £500m – highlights the pressures still facing regional businesses, with particular concern around skills.

Almost a quarter of North East businesses (24%) are uncertain over what skills the business will need in future, with over a third of regional companies (35%) identifying a specific gap in AI skills amongst entry-level recruits.

Dan Brookes, partner in Yorkshire and North East at BDO said: “As part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy, ministers have set out ambitious plans to accelerate AI adoption across a raft of sectors, aimed at boosting productivity, supercharging economic growth, and unlocking billions in added value.

“That ambition is shared by many regional businesses looking to develop, integrate and measure the effectiveness of AI, whether that’s across information and communication, improving business operations, or administrative or clerical roles.

“However, given the rapid rate of technological change, there are clearly still significant challenges facing businesses when it comes to transitioning from legacy systems, scaling technology, and sustaining new AI models, often hindered by workforce capability gaps.

“While the role of AI champions is a positive move, more support will be required to ensure North East businesses benefit from the positive effects of AI on businesses.”

Apple Maps is now displaying Lake Ontario as “Lake America” for users in the United States following President Donald Trump’s executive order directing the federal government to rename the Great Lake.

FOX Business confirmed the change Tuesday by reviewing Apple Maps, which showed “Lake America” on the map and in the location details for the body of water.

Apple confirmed to Reuters that U.S. users will see “Lake America,” while users in Canada will continue to see “Lake Ontario.” Users elsewhere will see both names.

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A map is displayed as U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order that aims to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on August 27, 2026. (Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The change follows Trump’s Aug. 27 executive order directing the Department of the Interior, in coordination with the Board on Geographic Names, to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America and update the federal Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).

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The order also directs federal agencies to use the new name in maps, contracts, documents and communications. It applies to federal usage and does not require Canada, international organizations or private companies to adopt the designation.

A map labeling Lake Ontario as “Lake America” is displayed as U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order during an event in the Oval Office of the White House on August 27, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Apple’s move came after Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said on FOX Business’ “Mornings with Maria” that Trump had reached out to Apple directly regarding the Maps designation.

Google made a similar change days earlier. The company said its Maps service would show “Lake America” to U.S. users after the GNIS update, while Canadian users would continue to see “Lake Ontario” and users in other countries would see both names.

The approach mirrors how Apple and Google handled Trump’s 2025 decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America for federal purposes.

A Canadian flag flies along the waterfront of Lake Ontario, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on August 27, 2026. (Cole Burston / AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

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Canadian officials have rejected the Lake America designation. Prime Minister Mark Carney and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said after Trump’s order that they would continue referring to the body of water as Lake Ontario, according to Reuters.

Reuters contributed to this report. 

A fresh tax raid on Britain’s banks in October’s Budget would hand a competitive gift to rival global financial centres and see jobs and investment drain out of London, the chief executive of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organisations has warned.

Nigel Green, chief executive of deVere Group, made the intervention as the financial sector gears up for a major lobbying push ahead of Chancellor John Healey’s Budget on 28 October. Union leaders are pressing for a windfall levy on bank profits to help fund relief on household energy bills, while a senior Wall Street bank boss is reported to have privately urged Healey against making the UK a more hostile place for banks to operate.

“Every finance minister eventually learns the same lesson the hard way,” Green said. “Capital doesn’t sit still and wait to be taxed. It moves to wherever the environment is friendliest, and it moves fast.”

Green pointed to New York as a live warning, citing reports of a material decline in finance roles in the city, with executives openly linking the exodus to its tax burden. “London should be paying very close attention to what’s happening across the Atlantic,” he said. “A city can price itself out of the industry that built its skyline, and once those jobs relocate, they rarely come back on demand.”

His comments follow a similar warning from Citigroup chief executive Jane Fraser, who said last month that she was worried by the UK’s 48 per cent bank tax rate and that “money votes with its feet”. In May, JPMorgan chairman Jamie Dimon said the bank would reconsider its planned £9.9bn Canary Wharf tower if the UK became “hostile to banks again”.

According to deVere, UK banks already carry a heavier load than most competitors realise. On top of corporation tax at 25 per cent, lenders pay an additional 3 per cent surcharge on their profits plus a separate levy on their balance sheets, both introduced in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and never fully unwound.

“Nobody is asking for sympathy for an industry that’s profitable again,” Green said. “But Britain’s banks are already taxed well above the rate applied to most other sectors. Layering a windfall charge on top of that only deepens an imbalance that already exists.”

Green acknowledged the political pressure on the Chancellor, with reports showing the UK’s largest banks posted combined profits above £29bn in the first half of the year, a figure unions are using to argue that the sector can easily absorb more.

“Big profit numbers make an easy talking point for anyone pushing a windfall tax,” he said. “What gets left out is that financial and professional services already deliver a record share of the tax take that funds the schools, hospitals and energy support Healey wants to protect. Punishing the sector that pays for those things is self-defeating.”

HMRC figures show the banking sector paid £35.2bn in PAYE, corporation tax, bank levy and bank surcharge receipts in the 2024 to 2025 financial year.

deVere says billions of pounds in planned UK office expansions and hiring are directly tied to the tax outlook, meaning firms are watching the Budget closely before committing further.

“Global banks don’t make 30-year property and headcount decisions based on hope,” Green said. “They make them based on whether a government looks predictable. Every signal of a harsher regime pushes that decision further from London and closer to Frankfurt, Dublin or New York.”

Healey has a narrower path than his predecessor faced, according to Green, given weaker growth and tighter borrowing headroom, which he said makes the temptation to reach for bank profits even stronger. Public sector borrowing came in at £1.8bn in July, against an Office for Budget Responsibility forecast of a £500m surplus, with borrowing in the financial year so far more than £2bn above the watchdog’s expectations.

“I understand the arithmetic behind wanting an easy pot of money to fund energy bill support,” Green said. “But taxing success out of the country doesn’t fund anything for long. It just moves the tax base somewhere else and leaves a smaller economy behind to cover the bill.”

He added: “Growth comes from stability, not from raiding the sector that’s finally performing. Healey has a genuine chance to back the industry that funds the country. Reaching for a windfall tax instead would be a costly mistake dressed up as a quick win.”

Amy Ingham

Amy Ingham is a reporter at Business Matters, covering UK business news with a focus on breaking news, business policy, late payments and insolvency. She joined the magazine in 2026 after completing the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism at Harlow College’s journalism school. Her recent reporting includes British Steel’s nationalisation and its impact on SME suppliers, the decline in late payments by large firms, and Insolvency Service director disqualifications. Reach her at aingham@cbmeg.co.uk.

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