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Bufori is a modern brand of rare automobiles resembling 1930s coupes. The company is owned by Australian brothers Anthony, George and Gerry Khouri. In 1986, Gerry Khouri began work on a hobby, the simple aim of which was to build three special sports cars, one each for the three brothers. Out of this hobby emerged Bufori Motor Car Company.
The Bufori Motor Car Company Pty. Ltd. is a proprietary company limited by shares and registered in Australia as is the Bufori Motor Car Company (M) Sdn. Bhd. is in Malaysia. Originally, all of the manufacturing and sales operations were conducted in Australia. However, as of January 1998 the full production of the Bufori range of sports cars is carried out at the new facilities at Kepong, a suburb of Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia.
The Bufori Motor Car Company has evolved and developed into a reputable manufacturer of exotic handmade sports cars. Bufori has produced two models to date: The MK II roadster and the MK III coupe. Each vehicle is fully customizable with a base price of US$110,000.
Company history
The Bufori evolved from the Australian version of the Madison kit car, as produced by GP Vehicles of Great Britain. The local rights to this Volkswagen Beetle based kit car were bought by an Australian Company which also traded under the GP Vehicles name.
Substantial changes had to be made to comply with design and safety rules in Australia. GP Vehicles' three man operation was producing three cars per year (some with Subaru engines), along with about five to six kits. Prices ranged from $15-17,000 for a completed car, $4-8,000 for a kit. They also built three front engined versions of this vehicle; two had 2 litre Nissan engines and the third larger prototype had a 3.8 litre Holden (GM) V6.
Gerry Khouri bought three of the Volkswagen-based kits with the aim of building one for himself, one for a friend, and one for resale as a complete car to finance the purchases. He eventually purchased the Australian rights and all moulds and jigs from GP Vehicles. The VW based cars were improved and renamed by Bufori and uprated in terms of fittings. Sales of the original kits ceased as this was thought (rightly so in most cases) to produce an inferior car. Bufori did go on to build two more V6 engined vehicles (one of which completed the Australian Canonball Run), but sadly nothing more came of this model.
Instead, the decision was made to upgrade the original body style to incorporate electric windows and to iron out some of the existing assembly problems with that body. This process was overseen by George Khouri, who had no previous experience in building cars. The result of this was that no cars were produced for nearly a year. (Meanwhile the V6 model - at an advanced state of development - sat in the corner of the workshop.)
Eventually the Mark II was ready for production and was well received. By this time prices had risen to $45,000. After nearly a year of sales, someone decided to undertake a costing on the production. It was discovered that the cost to produce the Mark II was around $63-65,000 - and that was before sales tax was added!
Production was eventually moved to Malaysia under a (minor party) joint venture with a Malaysian company, but never really got off the ground before the joint venture partners fell out. The Malaysian company seized all of the assets, which were in turn seized by their receivers. The Khouris were able to buy them all back at auction.
A new joint venture company was set up some time later, and with a change in Malaysian laws, the Khouris were able to retain control.
External links
See also
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