As I understand it the owners of Performance and BDR were partners in the very early stages of their Cobra venture. This is the reason for the similarities (BMW suspension, look, etc.). The original cars were marketed under Johnspeed. What I am not clear on is whether the parting of the ways occured under the Johnspeed name or when one of the other companies was formed.
For what it's worth, and this is purely MY opinion, it seems that BDR has a much better operation, funding and customer centric view. They seem to have very quickly continually improved the cars based on client, dealer and Cobra 'experts' feedback and widened the gap between them and the Perfromance cars. Not too mention, their dealers feel they are treated very well (right Boudy).
For these reasons and many others I would be willing to share with you, I went with the BDR car. I researched this thing to death and for my needs, usage and preferences BDR was the perfect fit. Now if I can just get 'em to move up my delivery date.
Feel free to contact me offline if I you would like to discuss it further.
Happy hunting!
- Snak Iyz