Michael Porter wrote:
... since lead times for new cars are typically in the 5-7 year
range, my guess is that BMW has already started the development work.
[soap box at the ready...]
It's possible, but we must also remember that Rover (or whatever they're
called this week) have a long history of bringing out "new" cars by doing
little more than re-naming old cars. For example, the Austin Montego
became the Rover Montego after a little "badge engineering" and the
Austin Metro became the Rover Metro, then the Rover 100 series. Then
there was the '80s revival of the MG name which saw sporty versions of
Austins (Metro, Maestro, Montego) re-badged as MGs. Going back further
to the 50s and 60s, BMC produced cars with the same basic design (the
"Farina" saloons and 1100/1300 series) badged as Austin, Morris, MG,
Wolseley (and more? Riley?). Thankfully the Triumph range of cars was
always a little more separate, until the joint venture with Honda spawned
the Acclaim.
What I'm taking a very long time to getting round to saying is: there's
a chance that the Triumph name could be re-launched without spending 5-7
years designing a new car: i.e. by simply re-naming an existing car as a
Triumph. Much as I'd like to see the name revived, let's hope it doesn't
happen this way.
Daren Allder
Reading, England
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