TVR, the Blackpool-based manufacturer of cult status 200mph-plus sports cars, was reported last night to have been sold to one of Russia's youngest millionaires.

Nikolai Smolensky, the 23-year-old son of a tycoon whose banking empire collapsed in 1998, was said by the ft.com website to be the new owner of the plant whose 400 workers produce 1,000 cars a year, almost entirely for the British market.

Mr Smolensky, whose father Alexander rose in the post-Soviet era from construction manager to backer of President Yeltsin and oil and banking magnate, was said to be planning to take TVR into the North American and other foreign markets.

Peter Wheeler began the TVR legend in 1947 as a young engineer developing high-performance road cars based on an Alvis Firebird chassis. It is understood that he will stay with the company to oversee design.