On Thu, 15 Jun 1995, Alan Tong wrote:
> I was lucky enough to be invited to a private viewing and presentation on the
> new MGF at Brooklands. Unlike the recent viewings at Knebworth and
>Silverstone
> we had a chance to go over the car in detail and talk to staff from MG
>including
> the cars designers.
>
> MGF in the USA ?
>
> Unfortunately it seems like bad news for all of you stateside. There are
> currently no plans to sell the car in the states. Apparently the car
>'nearly'
> meets US emissions and crash test standards and would not need a lot of work
>to
> comply, the problems are cost and production capacity. MG feel that the car
> would have to be sold at around $22,000 to compete with the Mazda MX5, at
>this
> price there is not enough margin to make a profit. How do you feel about
>this?
> Would US customers be willing to pay more for the car? Let me know and I will
> pass on any comments to the powers that be.
Does it seem odd to anyone else that Rover/MG/BMW would intentionally
ignore the North American market, the market that (arguably) did the
most to keep the marque alive from about 1945 on? Mazda seems to have
done rather well here with the MX5/Miata, and that's a company not
previously thought of primarily when talking of small, open sports cars
(although their sporting reputation didn't hurt any).
Let's face it: the MG name is magic enough, especially in the United
States, that almost anything with a folding top and an octagon badge
would attract a few thousand buyers [that's both good and bad, but it's
mostly good and it's a fact we Triumph folks have lived with for years ;-)].
Alan, if you can get the ear of anyone with influence, suggest to them
that there are plenty of folks over here who know and revere the MG
name, some of whom have supported the marque since the "export-or-die"
days. Tell them to do some market studies. Look at the success of the
Miata.
And don't underestimate the potential size of the market. Look at Ford
Motor Company's success with the Explorer, for example, a vehicle that
was introduced into what looked to be a crowded field of contenders and
quickly rose to the top of that market in sales. Put together the MG
name and a good product at a not-too-outrageous price and GO FOR IT!
Andy Mace
P.S. Once you're done with that, talk to someone about dusting off the
Truimph badge, please. :-)
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