Ford tuner Mountune seeks buyer after founder leaves company

David Mountain resigned as director last month; firm hasn't published financial figures in more than two years

Essex-based tuner Mountune is looking for a buyer or investment partner for its UK operation after its founder resigned from his role as director.

Mountune’s founder and technical director, David Mountain, left his position last month, Companies House filings reveal. Mountune claims he continues to work there on a part-time basis, while company secretary Andrew Williams has taken over as director.

Accounting firm KPMG has been appointed to find an investor to “recapitalise the business and to unlock management’s growth aspirations”. Reports suggest the venture capitalist company that owned Mountune has realised its investment.

Financially, Mountune’s state is relatively unknown. In the financial year ending December 2017, it recorded a trading loss of £107,429 and has yet to publish any figures since, suggesting this trajectory has continued.

However, the company has remained active, introducing its most powerful tuning upgrade yet for the Ford Fiesta ST earlier this year, raising the output of the hot hatch to 232bhp.

A similar package was rolled out for the Focus RS last summer, taking the output of that car to 513bhp through replacing its existing turbocharger with a “specially engineered” item from BorgWarner. Mountune has also pivoted to tuning Volkswagen models in recent years with its Mountune52 sub-brand.

While no buyers have yet to publicly express interest in Mountune, one outcome is that it could be purchased by Ford, which has a strong relationship with the tuner. Ford has a history of adopting the ‘tweaks’ it devises for later production models. Furthermore, Ford dealers routinely stock Mountune packages, which are protected by Ford warranties.

However, given that Mountune does most of its work in the UK and Ford is based in the US, the close relationship between the companies is no guarantee that a buyout will occur.

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