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MG MGA - Sad news if you haven't been following it...


MG-Rover calls in administrators:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4422705.stm

Full statement on MG-Rover:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4422741.stm

More discussion on the "MG Car Company" board.
David Breneman

I have been reading all the comments on other boards, and one thing puzzles me..why o why hasn't MG Rover been assembling cars for the North American market? It appears as if there is a 30,000pa market there, which would surely solve all financial problems for the Company. Can someone explain why they can't sell in USA?
Gary Lock

I suppose it is because Americans like reliable cars. Do you follow the MGF Technical BBS? Just mention "HGF" to an MGF owner.

Mick
Mick Anderson

To anyone who has worked under British corporate management, this should come as no surprise


D Sjostrom

Look MG/Rover where bought by an investment group so why didn't they contract with some of the world known design groups to design them a reliable, excellent performing, up to date quality MG and spend their time in marketing. I can't believe that all the MG SIZE cars built by (not neccessarily in) Asia and the EU companys are great cars and are for sale in North America. This is not cricket science, it is the result of egotistical idiot brains. I have a friend who had a TC for 25yrs and another who had Spitfires for 25 yrs and they both now have Miata's and they laugh at me because I still have an MGTD. They wish that their Miata had an MG/TR badge on it.
Hey when you get to my age you rant too much so I apologize for carrying on but I still love my Brit Car and my Brit Dog.
Greg & Grimm
G.J. Cenzer

Will this have any effect on the British Moter Heritage Trust?

Tony
Tony Shoviak

Hi Tony,

The BMIHT is not associated with the MG Rover group anymore, believe it's owned by Ford now.

I hope they'll take MG Rover as a company apart asap.
Driven a few of their cars, Rover 75 and 45 and MG ZTT, which are absolute rubish.
Hope somebody will take up the MG brand again, I am sure you could built a proper car that would suit the MG badge and follow in the line of the classic MGs.

The reason the current models were never sold in the US, was the price and price only I believe. Would any american pay 36000 US for a two seater (the TF) roadster with a 1.8 (115bhp)4cylinder engine? A slightly modified MGB will perform better. Or 45000 US$ for the 160 bhp version?

Some prices * :
- ZR (160bhp) 23400euro / 30420 US$
- ZS (180bhp) 31490euro / 40920 US$
- ZT (160bhp-V8) 36000 - 60000euro / 46800 - 78000US$
- ZT-T (160bhp-V8)38000 - 62000euro / 49400 - 80600US$
*These are dutch prices converted into dollars. I am sure the prices in the US would be slightly lower because of different taxes on cars, on the other side they need to be shipped over.

Regards,
Koen


Koen Struijk

I hate to say it--as there are rabid MG types lurking here--but the demise is long overdue. MGR provides nothing in the way of support for our vintage cars and the actual lineage is dubious at best. Hudson, American Motors, Studebaker and many others throughout the last hundred years have closed their doors and the world is no worse off for their passing. We have better parts support for our cars now than when BMC, British Leyland or whatever else they morphed into when they were still in the business of exporting their cars to the US. Requiem in pace.
R. L Carleen

I like it how all you foreigners are slagging MG Rover off but the mgtf is still the best selling sports car in the UK so it can’t be that bad and as for the other saloons they are a lot better than some imports (especially the 75) all be it a little dated due to lack of investment.

Regards
Dave
Dave

>>>>.due to lack of investment.
and there lies the crux!!!!!!!!
Cecil Kimber

I think much of the reason that MGR cars have not been sold here in the US are the stringent smog control and crash testing laws. I understand that the costs associated with crash testing are quite high, in the millions of dollars. Smog controls ruined the MGB in the '70s, leaving it a shadow of its former self. Rubber bumpers were also part of the B's demise. Don't get me wrong, I still have several rubbere bumpered B's and one MGA.

I only wish we had access to the newer MG's, but alas it is not to be.
Chuck Asbury

>>I think much of the reason that MGR cars have not been sold here in the US are the stringent smog control and crash testing laws.>>

I agree on the crash testing argument, not sure about the above one though. Ever heard of the Kyoto treaty? ;)

Just read the UK gov. gave a 9 million pound loan to MG/Rover so that they can pay their suppliers and workers.

Agree with Dave, the MG part of MG/Rover appears to be running fine and even make a profit. It's the Rover part that is making the losses. Though I doubt if the company can survive in a slim set up.

Goodnight!
Koen
Koen Struijk

The US had stringent smog control laws LONG before the Kyoto treaty, and long before any other country that I'm aware of. The state of California had tougher laws than the rest of the country for many years, although I think the federal standards are all the same now. These laws applied to industry as well cars.

MG has been gone from these shores for 25 years. Had Kyoto been in effect in 1980, maybe we'd still be able to buy MGs and Rovers, and maybe the US would have signed up to it. No French cars are imported here any longer either. The reasons are the same. A few years ago, non-smog controlled cars from the UK or Germany generally had higher horsepower than similar models that were available here. I think that may still be true.
Chuck Asbury

Too bad they did not have more money for retooling. What would happen if they made a "Retro" MG like many of the companies are doing today like the Ford T Bird, or Chrys. Prowler, PT Cruiser ect. Just image a new car with wire wheels. WOW, even I would buy one. A penny short and a day too late.
Jeff Becker

But they did build a "retro" car, the MG RV8, and it didn't succeed. It did not have wire wheels, but they were an option on most MG's anyway.
Strange how cars become popular after you stop making them, it must be a management nightmare. mga twin cams are in demand here and bring high prices, now the MG RV8 is popular with many secondhand cars being imported from Japan.

Mick
Mick Anderson

The MG RV8 was no where near retro enough. I just looked like a warmed over MGB. MG shoud have built one that resembled an MGTC, TD, or TF. I think THAT would have sold.
Chuck Asbury

By the way, Happy Birthday Cecil. What is it 117 years now? :>)
Ralph

Ralph… thanks for your wishes!
Chuck… how do you know the RV8 was a warmed over B? Have you ever driven one?
Others… I don’t think the question about not making cars for the USA can be simply boiled down to the regulations regarding pollution and crash tests. If it was then how come the likes of Morgan, Lotus and, dare I mention them (?), Yugo import cars? (I know that Yugo failed due to quality issues but the fact remains they passed the relevant test in the first place). Surely it cannot have been that hard for M.G./Rover to have done the same work?
Cecil Kimber

Chuck - There's no way you could crash certify any car that's anywhere near styled like a T-series unless you made some sort of PT Cruiser like parody of the original design.

As far as the Kyoto Swindle goes, the US has led the world in the development and deployment of pollution control equipment and laws that enforce its use. Why not have a treaty that forces *developing countries* to adopt the technology that *already exists*? No, can't have that! Let China and India spew all the poisons they want while the industrialized world goes on a self-defeating guilt trip over our "unfair" prosperity. Sorry - you can deal me out of that game.

Cecil is right about car makers like Morgan and Lotus - but they *want* to be in the US. The problem with MGR (as seem from this side of the pond) is that they never *wanted* to re-enter the US market. They were so fixated on being a *volume* producer at home they didn't work to extend their reach abroad. There were potential partners lining up to invest in MG's return to North America and MGR management simply showed them the door. In the meantime, they sought deals in Eastern Europe, India and China where they could maintain a large volume production. In a way, it makes sense that you need the volume to remain competitive in the mid-priced market, but it wouldn't have taken much (thanks to potential partners' investments) to get them back into the US and Canada with a few models that would have opened up the world's biggest car market to them... and they repeatedly turned it down!
David Breneman

Cecil, have you ever seen the retro look as displayed on Chrysler's PT Cruiser, Ford's 2005 Mustang or recent T-Bird? The STYLING is the retro part, certainly not the mechanicals. The R-V8 LOOKS like an MGB. It's not retro enough to sell in huge numbers. After all, how many people are nostalgic over the MGB? If this http://maa.web.infoseek.co.jp/mg-rv8/3.jpg doesn't look like the younger sisiter of an MGB, I don't know what does.

You are right. It shouldn't have been that hard for MG to have done the work, but for some strange reason they declined. Too late now.
Chuck Asbury

Wasn't MGR toying with the idea of an MGA-inspired "retro" car a few years back? I remember reading about it but they never got it past the "artist's concept" artwork phase.
David Breneman

Re: Kyoto Treaty, right on Dave!
mike parker

This thread was discussed between 07/04/2005 and 12/04/2005

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