Here's Graham Robson's take on the story after I forwarded it to him this
morning.
" The MG revival story is bound to run and run. The crux of all this,
apparently, is that the British company which made bodies for the MG TF still
(a)
possesses all the press and assembly tooling, and (b) reckons that it has
legal
ownership to them, having part-financed the project in the first place. That
company is still owed money by the bankrupt Rover Group, and says it is not
interested in starting up again until those debts are paid.
" Then we come to the USA situation. The MG TF's existing engine (the
four-cylinder K-Series, which is closely related to the V6 engine which you
sampled
in the Land Rover Freelander a few years ago) has never been 'federalised'
for the USA market, which would take a lot of time and a lot of money. It's an
old engine now (introduced in 1989, at first), so perhaps Nanjing considers a
different type of engine - which would need to be (a) federalised and (b) the
car would need to be re-developed - is justified..
" I am assured by legally-proficient Americans that ex-MG dealers in the
USA (from the 1960s and 1970s) would either demand to be re-appointed, or
would
demand financial recompense for having their old franchises abruptly
terminatred in 1980. Sounds fun .... and expensive. The phrase 'class action'
comes to
mind."
Cheers
Graham
That's all folks,
Gary
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