The British sports car manufacturer TVR has announced it has finalised the first stage of its relocation plans, and confirms that it will be remaining in Britain and predominantly within Lancashire, where the company was founded in 1947.

A new assembly site in Blackpool will eventually be succeeded by a move to a new UK plant at an unconfirmed date.

For the foreseeable future, TVR will operate from a new international headquarters in Lancaster, where the management, sales and marketing teams, as well as research and development, will all be based.

Following discussions with the local council, final production of TVR cars will also remain within Lancashire, at a confirmed plant in the Squire's Gate area of Blackpool. It is planned that some sub-assembly manufacturing will eventually be conducted away from the new plant, but that remains the subject of further discussion and is linked to new materials and technologies that will be a feature of future TVR models.

The new facilities, to which TVR will be moving within the next few months, will help TVR achieve Euro IV type approval, increase volume, and further its quality improvement programme. The firm says the relocation will not affect customer orders.

Nikolai Smolenski, TVR's owner and chairman, said: "Our eventual plan is a brand new state-of-the-art factory for TVR, but our choice of site for that facility is a decision to be made in the future. We have introduced a relocation strategy that allows TVR to grow into the international company that has always been my vision, and to continue to build on the improved quality using a skilled and committed local workforce."