Bernard Cox and his friend Jack Hosker created the Cox GTM, for Grand Touring Mini, in 1967: a mid-engined sports car built from Mini parts. It was an instant hit, and they built kits as fast as they could in a garage at Hazel Grove, Stockport, until Cox stopped after 50. Howard Heerey, who had raced one, took over with his father and renamed the car simply GTM, and about 170 kits had been made by 1971, when road widening forced the garage to close.
GTM entered its most successful period in 1980, when it was bought by Peter Beck, Paddy Fitch and Dougal Cowper. The company moved to Sutton Bonington in 1982 and over the next 20 years refined the GTM Coupé and developed new models, including the Mini-based Rossa. Its third-generation Rossa, the K3, was the first car offered with a mid-mounted Rover K-series engine, a layout later used by the Lotus Elise and MGF. GTM also built the Midas and briefly the NG. In 1998 Beck and Fitch launched the Richard Oakes-designed Libra, followed by the Spyder convertible.
RDM Group bought GTM in 2003 and moved it to Coventry in 2004, and in December 2007 it became part of Potenza Sports Cars, owners of Westfield. In January 2010 Westfield announced that it would no longer offer the GTM range.
