Aussie-made supercar future in doubt: What next for Brabham?

The bad news for Australian-made cars just keeps coming. Brabham Automotive, with its boutique track-only supercars, was meant to represent the start of a new era for the local industry but has instead ended with the same fate as Holden, Ford and Toyota.

Earlier this week David Brabham and Mat Fitch formally announced the end of their partnership, which had seen Fitch’s Fusion Capital help produce the car in Adelaide. It was seemingly the ideal partnership, with Fitch’s key family business one of the country’s biggest automotive component suppliers and in need of manufacturing work in the wake of the ‘big three’ brands shutting up shop locally.

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But for reasons that have not become clear yet, the two parties have opted to go their separate ways, putting the future of Brabham Automotive, motorsport and the BT62 and BT63 in doubt.

“While it is regrettable that our relationship with Fusion Capital has come to an end, the collaboration helped further evolve ‘Brabham’ to a new and exciting future,” said David Brabham in a statement, which listed him as ‘Director of Brabham Group Limited.’ “With the brand licence for Automotive ended, it opens the doors for future business ventures in the Motorsport, Automotive and Heritage sectors. I would personally like to thank everyone who contributed [to] and supported this project over the years.”

READ MORE: Brabham BT63 hits the track

Fitch was equally vague in his comments in the joint press release, which doesn’t make it clear the reasons for the sudden change or what will happen next to the Brabham Automotive brand and cars.

“Ultimately the strategic direction of both groups did not align – that happens,” Fitch said. “My family and I have invested in automotive and manufacturing for over 40 years and we will continue to do so with what we have created in the last six years. Powertrains are evolving and the opportunity to challenge the mainstream OEMs has never been greater. What we have created provides the perfect platform for the future.”

It’s a stark contrast from February 2019, when Brabham and Dan Marks, another partner in Fusion Capital, proudly watched on as Luke Youlden used the BT62 to set the fastest lap ever recorded around Mt Panorama. Back then the new partners spoke of a shared vision and plans for a series of road-going and racing cars, as well as entries in Le Mans and sports car championships.

Instead, a limited number of BT62 have been built for track day use and the BT63 GT2 was developed for sports car competition but neither have become as popular as the company envisioned.

The obvious question now surrounds who owns the rights to the BT62 and BT63 designs. If it’s David Brabham he can simply look for a new production partner to produce the cars elsewhere in the world. However, if Fusion Capital has any claim to the design, it could force Brabham Automotive back to the drawing board to start from scratch.

For fans of Australian-made cars, hopefully a solution can be found to return this iconic Australian name to the racetrack and eventually the road-going supercar contest against the likes of Ferrari – the same company Sir Jack fought and beat in 1960s Formula 1.