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2014 MG TF: Early Look at MG's Future Roadster
Nice looking roadster British car owned by Chinese company. Isn't it odd that the UK once ruled part of China and virtually all of India and now a Chinese company and an Indian company owns some of the most British of car companies?
Looking at the numbers that Mazda puts up with the Miata I don't think anyone with the ability to analyze sales data would bother bringing out another sports car. That said a "niche" car with a high enough price, like Lotus, might find a market.
Mazda copied so much of the British sports cars, minus the spontaneously disassembling parts and gathered up a good size chunk of the market. The big problem is that the market segment for these, aging baby boomers is getting older, and smaller all the time.
first thing i saw when i looked at that car was the pontiac solstice, and since both the saturn sky and pontiac solstice are gone, this may fill that void left behind by these cars if its big enough.
Looking at the numbers that Mazda puts up with the Miata I don't think anyone with the ability to analyze sales data would bother bringing out another sports car. That said a "niche" car with a high enough price, like Lotus, might find a market.
Mazda copied so much of the British sports cars, minus the spontaneously disassembling parts and gathered up a good size chunk of the market. The big problem is that the market segment for these, aging baby boomers is getting older, and smaller all the time.
Good size chunk indeed. Mazda owns 100% of the market under $30k, and the next closest thing you get to a two seat roadster can be found in ~$50k roadsters like the Boxster and Z4, or the Lostuses. Honda did at least have a foothold int the $35-38k range before it killed the S2000. I'm frankly amazed that the Mazda Miata (MX-5) has been without competition for 20 years now. GM finally mounted a weak effort with the Solstice/Sky, but that was a poorly engineered and ultimately aborted effort.
The last of the UK MGs were overpriced, underpowered, and unreliable, and that's one reason the company went under, maybe the Chinese version will be cheaper, but it will be hard to compete with such market saturation and stiff competition. Looking at the engine choices listed, I'm inclined to think the MG will not have the lively spirit of a Miata but will be more of a cruiser.
Actually, that's not strictly true. The MG's weren't too bad. They were on a fairly equal footing with their direct competitors in terms of cost, reliability etc.
It was just that they'd been producing the same models for years, and didn't have the money available to produce anything new.
Therefore sales dwindled, folk didn't want a brand new car which was a 15 year old design.
What killed the company as much as anything was the alleged inappropriate behaviour of the directors who took over when it was bought from BMW.
there wwas rumours of holidays, huge bonuses, and poor management, among other things.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sayantsi
The last of the UK MGs were overpriced, underpowered, and unreliable, and that's one reason the company went under, maybe the Chinese version will be cheaper, but it will be hard to compete with such market saturation and stiff competition. Looking at the engine choices listed, I'm inclined to think the MG will not have the lively spirit of a Miata but will be more of a cruiser.
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