Bufori Motor Car Company, The Flying B of Malaysia

by Michael Satterfield

Bufori is a small sports and luxury car manufacturer founded in Australia, and now based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They recently released their newest model at the Geneva Motor Show, a large luxury sedan called the Bufori Geneva, which is clearly based on a Chrysler 300. This strange-looking new car will be sure to turn heads wherever it goes, so if you want attention a Bufori might be for you.

Bufori Madison

The company was founded in 1986 and got its start building the Madison, a two-seat boat-tail roadster that had hints of Bugatti, Morgan, Triumph, and in reality, was a VW Kit car. Bufori was also licensed by GP Vehicles of Great Britain to produce their VW Kit car for the Australian market, however, Bufori tends to omit the fact they ever built kit cars from their company history. They sold the Madison from 1986-1988 and while the numbers were not great, but they did keep the company going long enough to shift production to the MKI, a second-generation version of the Madison. Still based on a discarded Beetle pan, the car was sluggish, to say the least for a "sports car" with a 0-60 time of 8.5 seconds, but it started to gain a following in Australia and surrounding markets.

The next model dubbed the V6I would be a departure from the original Madison as it had a front-mounted GM V6 and was rear-wheel drive. The performance was much improved with the V6I shaving 2 seconds off the 0-60 time over its air-cooled predecessor. The V6I allowed the company to create a competitive division that produced a track-ready version allowing the V6I to campaign across Australia, including running in the 1994 Australian Cannonball Run.

Bufori MKII

After 1994 the company moved all manufacturing and their offices to Malaysia where they built the most exotic car in the companies history, the Bufori LaJOYA. While it looks much like a fixed head Morgan or a modern MGTD in coupe form, the car is no slouch. A mid-engine 172hp Quad-Cam V6 drives the rear wheels, the body is made of Carbon Fiber and Kevlar, the leather and rich wood of the interior could be pulled from any premium coach builder.

Bufori LaJOYA

Bufori Geneva

The LaJoya while quirky it is not what I would consider an ugly car, the new Geneva, on the other hand, is a radical departure from taste. The car looks like a crossbreed of a Morgan and a Chrysler 300. While the build quality looks great, the interior appears welcoming and well-appointed, but the car just misses the mark in my opinion. While the flowing lines of the fenders and rear-end are striking a rhinoplasty should be ordered to correct the cattle-catcher on the front end. Bufori says they plan to build about 60 of the Geneva per-year and concentrate their sales in South East Asia, so if you happen to be in Singapore, Jakarta, Hong Kong, or Poyongya expect to see a Geneva on the street sometime in the near future.