“The guys we recruited through WSES are brilliant."
A Warwickshire-based motor enthusiast has turned his dream into a booming small business and, at the same time, given great career opportunities to a range of young people.
Robin Wells created
Wells Motor Cars in the heart of the Warwickshire countryside to chase that dream
and it has been emphatically fulfilled with order books that are full.
This success is thanks to Robin’s talented team, whose recruitment was supported in part by Warwickshire Skills Hub, just one element of the “fantastic” support the business has received from Warwickshire County Council.
Wells Motor Cars is a true Warwickshire success story with a large proportion of the cars’ components sourced from within 30 miles of their factory in Bishops Itchington.
“I always liked cars and built my own little car at school as a school project,” said Robin. “My career went in another direction when I worked in health consulting, but I always drove and bought sports cars. In 2015, I sold the business and suddenly was in a position to follow my dream.
“That was to create the prefect sports car. I had an idea of how the perfect sports car would feel. I wanted to take all the good bits of the cars I’d had and put them together. I had a clear vision but no idea how to do it. I knew a guy called Robin Hall in Southam, who previously worked at BMW and Jaguar, told him about it. When he stopped laughing, he said, ‘do you know how many people have had this idea?”
Robin was deadly serious, however and ten years later, the car –
the Wells Vertige - is on the market and the order book full. Launched to the public at the 2021 Goodwood Festival of Speed, the unique product is making ripples in the global prestige car market while, back at base, the business is underpinned by talented young people building their careers.
“Within six months of the launch we had sold out the entire first production run of 21 cars. I had all these orders and no team, so in 2022 I started looking for a place. I drove around a ten-mile radius of Gaydon, bought this old farm and began to recruit. We moved in in January 2023 and started to build customer cars with the nucleus of a team – three people. Now we’re up to ten. I don’t know what I’m doing, so I need a high quality team!”
“Some roles were taking the engineers away from the most skilled elements of their role,” Robin said. “The guys we recruited through WSES are brilliant. Fin does surface and sub-assembly prep. We need parts to go on the car and fit first time and what Fin is doing, sanding and cutting, makes sure that happens. It’s vital stuff. George is learning all about glass fibre work, like bonding the rear wheel arches, which is also vital.
“The support from the Skills Hub has been fantastic. After they told us about the Skills Escalator, our senior technician, Sam, went on a three-day upholstery course which was invaluable.”
“I worked for a conservation charity so we are very committed to energy efficiency. We need the unit to be clean, dry and comfortable - good for the employees but also for quality of work. When I heard about the BEAS grant, at first I was reluctant because I feared it might be difficult and time-consuming to access support. But it has been really easy working with Louise, Robert and Steven at the County Council. My time is limited but Louise and her team have made it as simple as possible.”
Wells Motor Cars is a success story powered by the passion of one man and driven by the skills of his team. The brilliant location in Warwickshire has also played a big part, says Robin.
“It’s in the centre of the country and the Golden Triangle of Gaydon, Silverstone and Brackley. There is enormous motorsport expertise here and we have access to so much human capital. Being close to JLR and AML there is a certain halo effect, and there’s also the British Motor Museum which has one of our cars in it.
“I am very proud of what the team has achieved so far but we are very much looking to grow further. We plan to develop two other buildings with a dedicated space for each person to go with their role. We aspire to produce 24 cars a year.”
Louise Stolz, Future Skills Business Support at Advisor at Warwickshire Skills Hub, said: It’s been a pleasure working with Robin and his team over the last two years and watch his business go from strength to strength. Robin has created a fantastic environment, and it’s been a real privilege to be able to support him on that journey.”