Lister cars has been named as the biggest growth company in the United Kingdom, growing by 140%

• All-British specialist sports car maker Lister is named the fastest-growing company within the UK’s competitive motor industry business sector by independent financial analysis specialists Plimsoll
• Lister sales having increased by 140 per cent over the previous 12 month period
• Lister is also identified by Plimsoll as the UK’s 28th largest company in the UK market
• Within the last 12 months, Lister has launched three significant new models, including the first – and only – fully road-legal continuation car
• Lister’s industry leading growth status follows hot in the tyre tracks of the Company announcing the first ever original specification fully road compliant version of its landmark Knobbly model
• Other new Lister sports car models launched within the last 12 months include the magnesium-bodied Knobbly Stirling Moss Edition, plus the recently-announced Costin continuation model, with each of these being built at George Lister Engineering in Cambridge, using the Company’s original chassis jigs
• More exciting new Lister model developments in pipeline for the future 

British specialist sports car maker The Lister Motor Company is currently the fastest growing company within the competitive British motor industry business sector, and the 28th largest in the UK market, according to independent analysis results just revealed by leading business finance specialists Plimsoll Publishing Limited. This research supports the fact that Lister’s sales have increased by 140 per cent over the previous 12 month period. 

This news follows Lister’s recent announcement that to date it is unique in being the only automotive company making original specification continuation cars that are eligible for fully-legal registration and road use. Unlike other continuation specials which are strictly limited to track use only, the new road legal Lister Knobbly is fully eligible for IVA type approval. 

In addition, within the last 12 months, Lister has also revealed two other significant new models; the highly-desirable magnesium-bodied Knobbly Stirling Moss Edition, plus the aerodynamic Costin continuation model announced late last year, with each of these cars being built at George Lister Engineering in Cambridge, using the Company’s original chassis jigs and some of the original Lister engineering craftsman from the 1950s.

Plimsoll are independent experts in the field of company and industry financial analysis, selling over 1,600 industry specific reports that analyses individual company performance alongside key industry trends and developments which help to assess the attractiveness of potential acquisitions, gain better understanding of a market sector and identify sound companies with whom to trade. They provide busy managers with a set of tools to monitor the financial welfare of their company, their rivals, or those that they may wish to acquire. 

The latest Plimsoll analysis provides expert insight into the performance, financial health and value of the UK's 52 leading car manufacturers, with the latest analysis revealing that: 

• 23UK car companies are currently in danger
• 34UK car companies are ripe for takeover
• 21 UK car companies are making a loss
• 2UK car companies lose over a quarter of their value
• 1 UK fastest growing car company – The Lister Motor Company 

Commenting on the findings of Plimsoll’s analysis, Lawrence Whitaker CEO The Lister Motor Company says, “I am truly delighted to see that the Lister Motor Company is now the UK’s fastest growing company in the substantial motor industry sector, with Plimsoll’s independent analysis recognising the tremendous progress and innovations we are continuing to make at Lister. He adds “These rewarding findings come ahead of a particularly exciting time in Lister’s 63-year history of making competitive and desirable sports cars, with some interesting developments for the marque ahead.” 

OBITUARY - Brian Lister, The Man, the Name and the legend lives on.

• Lister Cars founder Brian Lister died on December 16^th 2014
• Brian was a true racing legend and his passing marks the end of an era
• His famous 1954 Lister ‘Knobbly’ was the front-engined car to beat in period racing
• Touching interview with TV presenter Quentin Willson recorded on December 8^th 2014 can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2MTzTtx4Ow 

Brian Lister, who died aged 88 on December 16th, was one of Britain’s greatest unsung racing car builders. From its inception in 1954, Lister quickly became a benchmark for the front-engined sports racing car. The Lister ‘Knobbly’, as it was known, had few competitors.

Brian Horace Lister was born on 12 July 1926. He and his brother Raymond were the two sons of Horace and Nell Lister. Horace had joined the family engineering firm (established by his own father George in 1890) after the Great War and who had himself been trained as an engineer at Brotherwood’s in Peterborough, a torpedo manufacturer.

After attending the Perse School in Cambridge, Brian Lister was apprenticed to George Lister and Sons in 1942, completing his training in 1946, when he joined the Royal Air Force for two years of National Service. He chose the RAF for the twin reasons of engineering interest and an enthusiasm for Jazz music: “The RAF had the best bands...” he put it. He became a well-known performer with the drums, having formed a band, the Downbeats, during the war. It was an enthusiasm which never left him.

Another was the motor car. He had bought his first, a very tired ex-police MG, as soon as he was able, which was swiftly replaced by a Morgan 4/4, followed by a Cooper-MG. Lister rejoined the family firm in 1948.

In post-war Britain motor sport was fashionable and Brian helped to co-found the Cambridge 50 Car Club, another member of which was an oddly diminutive Scot, W.A. ‘Archie’ Scott Brown. The two men became firm friends and shared a mechanical guru, Donald Moore, who maintained the hard-worked engines on both their cars.

John Tojeiro, in nearby Huntingdon, was a customer of Lister Engineering and Brian Lister bought the second Tojeiro ever built, which he started to enter in sprint events in 1951. He was almost beaten by Scott Brown and on Moore’s advice handed the feral car over to him for the rest of its career; his own interest was veering towards being a constructor.

He asked his father to fund the development of a car bearing the family name. Horace assented, and by the Summer of 1953 the project was underway. Brian would build the car, Don Moore would provide an MG engine and Scott Brown would drive it. The car made its debut on April 3, 1954 at Snetterton. It won.

But at the British Empire Trophy race at Oulton Park a week later there was a huge potential setback. Scott Brown was severely disabled; possessed of only one hand and foreshortened legs, he stood only five feet tall. Another competitor protested his entry on safety grounds and his racing license was summarily withdrawn until, on appeal, it was restored two months later. But Lister kept his faith in Scott Brown, engaging other drivers only as long as Archie was unable to drive the car. It was to be one of the most remarkable synergies in sport.

The Lister car evolved rapidly, powered by Bristol and, later, Maserati engines. On the strength of his Lister drives, Scott Brown was retained as a Formula 1 driver for Connaught, which frustrated Lister’s own efforts in Formula 2 somewhat. Then, in 1957, the Lister-Jaguar appeared, which drew everyone’s attention. 

That season, out of fourteen races entered, it won twelve, setting either fastest lap or an outright record on each occasion. Unsurprisingly, customers appeared for the next year and the car was put into production for 1958, powered either by a Jaguar engine or, for the American market, a Chevrolet option. Lister was suddenly in the first rank of sports car builders, yet Brian achieved international success with great humility and on a budget much smaller than the major racing teams.

It was at Spa, in May 1958 that the great adventure started to falter; Scott Brown died after a fiery crash and Brian needed persuasion to keep going. He did, but only after some lengthy introspection on his part. He continued, but persistent deaths in motor sport gave him pause for more thought. 

Finally, in the Summer of 1959, after the deaths of Ivor Bueb and Jean Behra (neither of them in Lister cars) he withdrew from racing completely, supporting existing customers until the effort wound down in the 1960s. His last foray into racing was the preparation of the works Sunbeam Tigers for the 1964 Le Mans race.

He remained actively involved in Lister Engineering, taking it successfully into the field of packaging machine manufacture, and continued with his interest in music, performing publicly as late as 1990. In 2014 the Lister ‘Knobbly’ was reborn under the stewardship of the Whittaker family and turnkey replicas are now built at the same Lister factory in Cambridgeshire for historic racing. Weeks before he died Brian inspected the first continuation Knobby built and was delighted that the Lister legend lives on.

An unfailingly polite, drily humourous but essentially diffident man, despite his affection for highly colourful bow ties, Brian Lister viewed his professional association with Archie Scott Brown as both the highest point of his career but, all too suddenly, also the lowest. He married, in 1951, Josephine Prest, who survives him. They had one daughter.

Lawrence Whittaker, Managing Director of Lister Cars, said: “Brian Lister was a wonderful man - kind with a great sense of humour, he was always incredibly modest about his amazing achievements. Whenever I met him, I was left with the lasting impression of his passion for British engineering. He will be sorely missed, but we will make sure his ethos and legacy lives on at Lister Cars.” 

Brilliant news - Lister cars is back in business.

In an historic announcement today, Lister Cars, one the greatest names in British sports car manufacturing, has stated it will return to its Cambridge roots to once again reinstate production of an exciting new Lister car.

After a gap of almost 25 years since the last Lister rolled off the production line, the three Lister companies of George Lister Engineering of Cambridge, Brian Lister Light Engineering and Lister Storm, have been reunited into one organisation that will herald the return of one of the greatest sports racing cars of the 1950's - the fabulous Lister 'Knobbly' Jaguar.

In an exciting move that will ensure the return of the Lister name to new car production, the three companies have been consolidated within a new business called Lister Motor Company Limited, after a significant investment by Warrantywise, one of the UK’s most successful aftermarket used car warranty providers.

Lister Motor Company Limited has invested in a new, state-of-the-art facility in Cambridge, which includes CNC machining, 3D scanning and Catia design, all of which will enable George Lister Engineering to develop and deliver an exciting and near identical development of the historic, race-winning, competition and track car.

Brian Lister’s original working drawings and manufacturing jigs have all been re-commissioned, and many of the team involved in the original 1950’s project with Lister Cars have been called back into service, including Martin Murray, Colin (Chippy) Crisp, Graham (Curley) Hutton, Laurence Pearce and even Brian Lister himself.  Heading up the manufacturing project is Mark Hallam, technical director at George Lister Engineering and Jerry Booen of D Type Developments will also be assisting with the project. The cars will be built to be identical to those of 1958, and will be race-ready 'out of the box' to race with BHL-C (C for Continuation) chassis insignia and up to FIA/HTP Appendix K specification.

Lawrence Whittaker, CEO of Warranty Wise and the investor in the project, said: “Anyone with a fondness for British sports car manufacturing and with an understanding of Lister’s remarkable heritage should rightly be excited by this news. The Lister ‘Knobbly’ was a powerful, giant-killing racing car in its heyday, and with all the expertise we have brought together for this project, I can promise that the new Lister will be a fabulously exciting and desirable car. This is a passionate undertaking for us and we also have some very exciting plans for the future.”

Race proven, Jaguar D Type-specification engines and D Type gearboxes will be supplied by world-renowned experts, Crosthwaite & Gardener, and all race preparation and track commissioning will be undertaken by Chris Keith-Lucas of CKL Developments, another leading specialist in historic Jaguar restoration and preparation. Last but not least, that fantastic streamlined Knobbly body will be re-created using the original Shapecraft body bucks by the immensely skilled artisan craftsmen, Clive Smart and Adrian Breeze.

A series of Lister sponsored historic race meetings are planned for 2015, in time for the Lister 125th year anniversary.