Being a true blue Englishman I am depressed seeing another British marque
being taken over by another country. Who would have thought way back in
the 50's that MGs would be Chinese! I just cannot fathom why the marque
is not pushed by the UK Govt to one of the small independents in the
UK. - How about Healey's daughter?. How about a badge engineered Miata!!
I talked to Ken Costello about MG and its future. He was very bitter about
the lack of foresight in the players. They all seemed to have currency
symbols in their minds and absolutely no oil in their veins!
At 03:20 PM 7/12/06 -0500, Barney Gaylord wrote:
>At 10:39 AM 7/12/06, David Breneman wrote:
> >--- "Blake J. Discher" <bdischer@blakedischer.com> wrote:
> > > Automobile Group of China on Wednesday announced that it is >
> > planning to revive one of Great Britain's historic brands -- MG --
> > and build cars at a plant in Oklahoma.
> >
> >Well, I suppose it's no worse than BMWs being built in the US or VWs
> >in Mexico.
>
>The difference here is that the bulk of the MG/Rover derivitave cars
>will be built in China, not in England or in the US. If things go as
>planned, the MGF/TF will be built at Longbridge as in the past, and
>will likely not be available in the US for all the same reasons as in the
>past.
>
>The possible better news is that the new rear drive TF Coupe which
>was previously designed in England is slated to be built in the
>US. This could be viewed as a British car built in the US (but under
>Chinese management).
>
>I will have to reserve judgement on how the Chinese built MG/Rover
>cars may turn out. Those might be viewed as British cars built in
>China for so long as they are built with the prior design.
>
>I am trying to be optimistic about all this and view it as a
>continuation of the long term history and heritage of MG. At least
>give the Chinese credit for recognizing the merits of the MG brand
>and intending to continue it. For now I'm happy that it is not just
>forever dead.
>
>Barney Gaylord
>1958 MGA with an attitude
>http://MGAguru.com
>
Regards
Barrie Robinson
barrie@look.ca
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