Photo: Mountune
Founded 40 years ago as Mountune Racing, the British tuner best known for making Ford hot hatchbacks even hotter finds itself between a rock and a hard place. The worst-case scenario is for Mountune to be acquired by someone else, but even this is tricky because they haven’t published financial figures since 2017.
Autocar reports that the company is so troubled the founder and technical director left his position in July 2020. David Mountune “continues to work there on a part-time basis” according to the cited publication. At the time of reporting, secretary Andrew Williams serves as the new head honcho of the tuner from Essex.
KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting organizations out there, has been appointed by Mountune with two clear objectives. First and foremost, “recapitalize the business” by seeking financial help. Secondly, the bean counters have “to unlock management’s growth aspirations.” The big question is, who would take this risk?
The aftermarket for the Fiesta ST and Focus RS isn’t big in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, and the Ford Motor Company is struggling to make ends meet in the Old Continent. Another tuner? That may be an interesting solution, but do remember that even the aftermarket has been hit hard by the global health crisis.
“Mountune’s financial state is relatively unknown,” highlights the British motoring publication. In the financial year that ended in December 2017, the company recorded “a trading loss of 107,429 pounds sterling.” No financial reports have been released since then, leading many to believe that the losses are on an upward trend.
Representatives claim that Mountune isn’t in administration (a.k.a. bankrupt), but hiring KPMG to turn things around isn’t a sign of financial stability either. In any case, it’s anybody’s guess what the future holds for the Blue Oval-loving tuner.
On that not exactly cheerful note, Mountune appears to be fine on social media. Plenty of posts about the Fiesta ST and Focus RS have been published in the past few days, centered on software and hardware updates for the two hot hatches.
KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting organizations out there, has been appointed by Mountune with two clear objectives. First and foremost, “recapitalize the business” by seeking financial help. Secondly, the bean counters have “to unlock management’s growth aspirations.” The big question is, who would take this risk?
The aftermarket for the Fiesta ST and Focus RS isn’t big in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, and the Ford Motor Company is struggling to make ends meet in the Old Continent. Another tuner? That may be an interesting solution, but do remember that even the aftermarket has been hit hard by the global health crisis.
“Mountune’s financial state is relatively unknown,” highlights the British motoring publication. In the financial year that ended in December 2017, the company recorded “a trading loss of 107,429 pounds sterling.” No financial reports have been released since then, leading many to believe that the losses are on an upward trend.
Representatives claim that Mountune isn’t in administration (a.k.a. bankrupt), but hiring KPMG to turn things around isn’t a sign of financial stability either. In any case, it’s anybody’s guess what the future holds for the Blue Oval-loving tuner.
On that not exactly cheerful note, Mountune appears to be fine on social media. Plenty of posts about the Fiesta ST and Focus RS have been published in the past few days, centered on software and hardware updates for the two hot hatches.
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