I am not sure that MG/Rover/BMW is being totally honest about the
reasons for not exporting the MGF to the US. The car is apparently
'very close' to meeting US regulations, my guess the real reason has
more to do with production capacity, they will not be able to meet
demand from Europe for at least 12 months, so if they can sell all
the cars they can make over here why bother shipping them across the
pond?
Saying that the US can't have the car may be simply be a marketing
ploy, the more you tell people they can not have the car, the more
they will want it. If and when production capacity / demand means
that cars are availible for the US, MG will probably announce in a
blaze of publicity that due to 'overwhelming public demand' they have
change their minds and you can have the car.
A similar thing seems to be happening in Australia - they wont be
getting the car for 2 years. The reason given is that the wing
mirrors need 'totally' re-designing - get real Rover!
As for this 50 something theme (I am a 20 something MGF owner) the
figures may be distorted by the fact that at the time the calculation
was done (on the first 1700 orders) no one outside Rover had actually
driven the car. To buy a car that you have not test driven or seen
any reviews of is somewhat a gamble, maybe the majority of people who
have made this gamble are buying the car as a second or third 'fun'
car rather than their main car. More younger buyers (for whom the MGF
is likely to be their main car) will probably move into the market
now that cars are availible for test drives.
If anyone is considering buying the MGF I can not recommend it highly
enough. Compared to the MX5 (Miatra?) the handling, brakes and
performance are superb.
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