Norfolk

Norfolk Cars is an English company, best known for its luxury cars and its success in Formula A, with their aptly named Team Norfolk. The company is owned by a Chinese megacorp called Shufu.

History

Norfolk was created in 1948 in England, originally as Norfolk Engineering by Ethan Watson. Very early in its life, Norfolk was involved in motorsports, taking part in Formula A from 1958 until 1994. The group that oversees the Norfolk Cars brand was created in 1959.

Originally, the company sold their cars to private buyers and early-adopters. As they were making a name for themselves, they decided to open up to the public at large. The 1960s were a critical time for Norfolk Cars, and they managed to sell plenty of high-class vehicles, like the Norfolk Type-A. The success of the company also continued in motorsports, as they sold engines and whole cars, as well made their own FA team, aptly Team Norfolk.

The 1980s however weren’t kind to the company. Production dropped from low three figures, and despite an agreement with Koromo to produce some cars, the company wasn’t able to bounce back and was near bankruptcy when 1983 rolled around. His owner and creator Ethan died just a few days prior to the new year, and put the company in a state of turmoil. Adding fuel to the fire, a scandal with an American car company called Gripper put them under government scrutiny. Eventually the company was saved by a local British hedgefund.

However it wasn’t enough to fund production of their vehicles and they went looking for a buyer. Embager seemed interested and bought the company in 1986, but sold them to an Italian richman in 1993, who sold the company again in 1996 to an Indonesian group. During this time, the company created several very iconic cars with a variety of engines, enjoying success, as much as a luxury sports cars company could.

The years went by under this leadership until Chinese conglomerate Shufu announced in 2017 a 51% stake purchase into Norfolk, with the remaining stake remaining with the Indonesian group.

In 2021, the company announced that by 2030, all its cars would be fully electric.

Featured Vehicles In Project Redline

Regular

Lynx Touring4 (2022)

The Lynx Touring4 is the GTC4 version of the original Lynx. There were many changes to its design, to make it fit the requirements of the competition, but eventually the car was made available to be bought to regular customers.

The Touring4 comes with a Koromo-made 3.5L supercharged V6 with a RMR configuration and a 6-speed manual transmission.

Canis V8 (1996)

The fourth refresh of the Canis came with a little surprise for new owners: a new Norfolk-made V8 engine. This made the vehicle even more desirable in its market, and gave it a bit of a boost in sales. It was the last sports car made with pop-up headlights.

The aforementioned V8 in the Canis is a 3.5L twin-turbocharged engine in a RMR layout and 6-speed manual transmission.

Lyra Super (2019)

The third generation Lyra came with a new engine and several different trims, and one of them was the ‘Super’ trim. Using plenty of carbon fiber in its construction, it managed to shave off 19kg from the regular Lyra.

The Lyra Super comes with a Koromo-made 3.5L supercharged V6 with a RMR configuration and a 6-speed manual transmission.