Outside of Germany, Wiesmann is barely known. A low volume, bespoke sportscar manufacturer based in country’s north, Wiesmann’s cars are ‘best kept secret’ kinda stuff. Those who know about them, adore them, those who don’t tend to assume they’re a new Morgan.
That mistake isn’t too hard to make. Wiesmann’s designs are very ‘old school Brit’ – a grille reminiscent of a Jaguar C-Type, a massive engine up front, and whacking great haunches at the back. Except they’re uniquely German – though the cars are handbuilt at the firm’s gekko-shaped factory in Dülmen, you won’t find any cut corners. OK, hand stitching leaves room for natural imperfection, but the idea of a squeaky panel or wonky shut line simply wouldn’t do. Wiesmann’s powertrains were sourced from various legendary BMWs, too, giving them incredible straight six, V8, or even V10 power and sound, which made them rather more dramatic than British 2.0-litre four cylinder efforts. They’re German muscle with Brit…ish looks.
A new electric era
After some time away, Wiessman is back but not with another dinosaur juice sipping monster, but an EV. And a new man in the top seat. When serial entrepreneur Roheen Berry saw a Wiesmann he fell in love with it, and made moves to bring the brand out of Germany. He secured the rights to create a right hand drive version, and planned to set up a dealership in London. As is the way with these things, one thing lead to another and he ended up owning the company.
One of the things that initially attracted Berry to Wiesmann was how timeless they are, and how once owners have one they tend to keep, and treasure it rather than flip it. This is a positive, of course, because it means the product is strong and much loved. It’s a negative because buyers might stop at one, which means the business won’t shift any new product. Of course, there’s nothing to stop people from having more than one. Wiesmann customers do stick close to the factory though, sending their cars back to the source for TLC.