Ronart

Origins & Heritage

Ronart Cars was established in 1984 in Norfolk, England, by Ron Batchelor — an engineer with a passion for traditional British sports car design and a determination to build a roadster that captured the spirit of the great pre-war and early postwar British racing cars. The company's name combines the founder's first name with the word 'art', reflecting the philosophy that each car is as much a work of craftsmanship as it is a piece of engineering.

The cornerstone of Ronart's philosophy was the use of production Jaguar powertrains — particularly the legendary Jaguar V12 and the later AJ-V8 — mounted in a hand-built space-frame chassis clothed in an aluminium body formed by skilled craftsmen. This approach gave customers the reliability and parts availability of a mainstream manufacturer's drivetrain combined with the exclusivity and character of a bespoke, low-volume British sports car. The W152 — named for its wheelbase in inches — became the company's defining model.

Production has always been extremely limited, with Ronart building cars to individual customer specifications rather than for stock. This means each Ronart is, in effect, a unique vehicle — specified by its buyer and assembled by hand in the Norfolk workshop. The company has maintained this ethos throughout its existence, resisting the commercial pressures that have led many small manufacturers to standardise or scale up production. Today, Ronart represents a rare survival of the British low-volume sports car tradition that once flourished in the workshops of Coventry and the English Midlands.

Key Milestones

Models in Pictures

Ronart's cars are distinguished by their classic long-bonnet roadster proportions, aluminium coachwork formed over a hand-welded space frame, and the distinctive sound of Jaguar's finest engines.

Ronart W152 · Jaguar-Powered British Roadster

Ronart Spider · Open-Top Driving Experience

Ronart Lightning · Performance Road Roadster

Notable Models

Ronart's model range has always been compact — the company produces variations on a single fundamental concept rather than a diverse portfolio — but within that narrow focus has created cars of extraordinary character and driving pleasure.

Engineering & Craftsmanship

Ronart builds cars the way British sports cars were built in the 1950s and 1960s — by skilled hands, in a small workshop, to individual customer requirements. Every car begins as a hand-welded multi-tube space frame; every body panel is formed by skilled metalworkers from aluminium sheet; every drivetrain is sourced from proven Jaguar production components.

• Hand-welded multi-tube space frame chassis — providing high torsional rigidity at low weight; each chassis is individually constructed in the Norfolk workshop by specialist fabricators
• Aluminium coachwork — all body panels are formed by hand from aluminium sheet using traditional English wheel and hammer-forming techniques; each car has subtly unique body contours as a consequence
• Jaguar drivetrain — Ronart has consistently used Jaguar production engines, gearboxes, and differential components; this provides long-term parts availability and mechanical familiarity for owners and service technicians
• Individual specification — every Ronart is built to the specification of its individual buyer; customers select drivetrain variant, body colour, interior materials, and equipment to create a genuinely personal vehicle
• Traditional British craftsman build quality — Ronart cars are assembled and finished to a standard that reflects the pride of individual craftsmen rather than the consistency of automated production; each car is unique

Ronart in Azerbaijan

Ronart cars are not available through conventional retail channels in Azerbaijan. As an extremely low-volume bespoke manufacturer, Ronart sells directly to private customers — typically enthusiasts who have sought the brand out specifically for its combination of Jaguar power and handbuilt British craftsmanship. Any Ronart in Azerbaijan would be a private import and an extraordinary rarity.

For Azerbaijani automotive enthusiasts who appreciate the tradition of the great British sports car, Ronart represents one of the purest surviving expressions of that heritage. While the brand may not have the fame of Aston Martin, Jaguar, or McLaren, it embodies the same fundamental values — performance, craftsmanship, and driving pleasure — in a form that is even more intimate and individual than those more commercially successful names.

Why Ronart Stands Apart

• True bespoke construction: Every Ronart is built to the individual specification of its buyer — not assembled from options lists but genuinely tailored; few manufacturers at any price point offer this level of personal involvement in the creation of a car.
• Jaguar V12 experience: The original W152's Jaguar V12 powertrain is among the most sonically and mechanically magnificent engines ever fitted to a British sports car; Ronart offers one of the last opportunities to experience this engine in a new, purpose-built sporting application.
• Traditional British coachbuilding: Ronart's hand-formed aluminium body panels represent a continuation of the coachbuilding tradition that produced some of the most beautiful cars in automotive history; owning a Ronart is owning a piece of living craft heritage.
• Extreme rarity and exclusivity: With production measured in single digits per year, every Ronart is genuinely rare; owners join an extremely small community of enthusiasts who share the experience of cars built by identifiable craftsmen in a single English county.
• Unfiltered driving experience: Without electronic driver aids, stability systems, or the isolation of modern luxury sports cars, a Ronart delivers the driver a direct, unmediated connection to the road and engine that very few contemporary vehicles can match.