PRESS RELEASE | SEPTEMBER 2020
- The Little Car Company, creator of the Bugatti Baby II and Aston Martin DB5 Junior, will move to Bicester Heritage.
- Based in The Command Works at Bicester Heritage, the recently completed extension to the Centre of Excellence for historic motoring enterprise.
- The Company’s new headquarters will be used for vehicle production and will feature a design studio, as well as a client handover and experience centre.
- The Little Car Company has more than doubled the size of their team since the start of 2020 and is recruiting further experienced automotive engineers.
Bicester Heritage is pleased to announce that The Little Car Company, makers of the Bugatti Baby II and Aston Martin DB5 Junior, will move into a new flagship headquarters at Bicester Heritage. The two-storey building totalling 9,350 ft2 is part of The Command Works, a new extension to Bicester Heritage’s campus, completed in 2020. The premises will become the location for the design, development, and assembly of all current and future vehicles, including the recently unveiled Aston Martin DB5 Junior by The Little Car Company.
The first car developed by The Little Car Company in partnership with Bugatti was the Baby II, a 75% scale tribute to the iconic Bugatti Type 35 and a follow-up to Ettore’s 1926 Bugatti Baby. The company’s most recent vehicle is the Aston Martin DB5 Junior, a two-thirds scale electric junior car. Developed over the last 15 months through a partnership with Aston Martin, the junior car is expertly designed using Aston Martin’s reference 3D scan of an original DB5 to ensure complete accuracy and authenticity.
The Little Car Company plans to commence manufacturing of the DB5 Junior in 2021, at its new home. Clients who wish to collect their cars in person will have the opportunity to test their vehicle on Bicester Heritage’s test track, offering the ultimate first driving experience. All vehicles will undergo extensive pre-delivery inspections and quality checks at the new Bicester Heritage production facility, before making their way to clients worldwide.
Daniel Geoghegan, the Chief Executive of Bicester Motion, said: “It is a pleasure to welcome The Little Car Company to our Centre of Excellence. Their immaculate cars have won great acclaim at events such as the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court and Salon Privé at Blenheim Palace this year, and we believe that their attention to detail and fine finish make them the perfect addition to The Command Works at Bicester Heritage.”
The move signifies a notable expansion for The Little Car Company, the world’s leading producer of exceptional and authentic junior cars, who in partnership with elite car manufacturers, honour the most coveted classic vehicles in automotive history.
As well as being The Little Car Company’s production base, the new facility will feature a client hub where clients can collect their cars or design their dream vehicle with the team before it goes into production. In keeping with the Company’s dedication to electric vehicles, the building will boast electric car chargers for the use of visitors and staff.
Ben Hedley, CEO of The Little Car Company, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be moving into our new home at Bicester Heritage, joining some of the UK’s greatest automotive businesses in a truly beautiful location. It made sense to move our company to Bicester Heritage, and we could not think of a more natural choice when it came to finding a new home.”
“The community, particularly our neighbours, have been extremely welcoming and we can’t wait to host our clients at our brand-new facility.”
The completion of The Command Works at Bicester Heritage in July 2020 signifies an exciting new era in the history of the former RAF WW2 Bomber Station, forming the first new-build development on the site in more than 80 years. Built sympathetically to respect the neighbouring nineteen Grade II listed buildings, the eight new buildings (ranging in size from 5,000-17,000 ft2) provide opportunities for new specialist businesses to join the UK’s ‘Home Of Historic Motoring’.
Bicester Heritage:
Bicester Heritage has created a revolution in historic vehicle ownership. The unique location is the UK’s only centre for historic motoring excellence and is the national centre for a £5.5bn per annum industry that employs over 34,000 skilled people. Founded in 2013 Bicester Heritage has gone from a standing start to a home for 40 specialist businesses, and growing, with a collective turnover of over £40m, making it the largest player in the industry and set to grow exponentially with a global reach.
The unique ecosystem of businesses based at the beautiful 444-acre former WW2 RAF Bomber Training Station acts as ‘marina-like’ cluster, promoting skills and expertise, employment, qualified customer footfall, shared business incubation and aggregate growth. Collectively, Bicester Heritage is all about driving the future of the past.
The former RAF Bicester site known as Bicester Motion, on which Bicester Heritage is now based, is of national historic importance. Neglected for the best part of 40 years, it was added to Historic England’s ‘At Risk Register’ in 2008 and designated the most ‘at risk’ of all Defence Estates in the UK.
Since Bicester Heritage’s tenure, over 95% of the buildings have been delicately restored or re-activated for modern business use, with the site now held as a national exemplar of constructive conservation by Historic England. The time-warp base is truly unmatched in evocative character and an active airfield and test track complete its dynamic operation.
The location of Bicester Heritage of course, is key. Bicester Heritage is a component part of Bicester Motion, an incomparable visitor attraction which will offer an authentic collection of dynamic and inclusive visitor experiences.
With innovation, community and experience firmly in mind, Bicester Motion is building a healthy, vibrant and dynamic Oxfordshire destination less than an hour from London.
For more information about the site and the team behind it, see www.bicesterheritage.co.uk.
