Chip,
Land Rover was withdrawn from North America in 1974 for precisely
the same reasons as Morgan. Land Rover returned in 1987 when
EFi became available for Range Rover. We are not talking about
large numbers of vehicles here.
North America is the largest market for automobiles, SUV's and
specialty vehicles. Safety and emissions regulations which are in
force here are generally accepted with minor differences elsewhere
in the world within a short time. A manufacturer which ignores this
Market and wishes to survive does so at it's peril. While the initial
costs associated with compliance with all our Regs might appear
unwarranted, in the final analysis it is probably cheaper to go ahead
and gain the necessary experience in order to ease the difficulties
to be encountered with future EEC Regs. In a lengthy conversation
with Charles Morgan yesterday (more later) the advantages and
disadvantages were discussed.
To presume that I would not be driving a 1998 4.0 Litre Plus 8
today were it not for the efforts of Mr. Fink in the seventies and
eighties is quite naive on your part and that of many others on this
List. In future you may anticipate the arrival of many more NAS
Morgans. Not all, but many of the delays in the build of my car
were caused by Fink dragging his feet, and I for one would more
than welcome MMC taking over all the certification and DOT mods
to the vehicles. This will be more likely in the next generation of
cars when NAS and ECC cars can be designed from scratch to
meet the latest crash test requirements.
While it is safe to presume that no one in his right mind or
otherwise would attempt to make a living in North America by
trying to sell Morgans unless he had real affection for the Marque,
both Fink and Sharples still do so to 'make a buck'. As Kit
Hildreth said earlier, there is a clear difference in approach.
This difference causes us both to prefer Cantab, which has
a year-round business, stocks parts for ALL four wheel
Morgans, and has just built a large and modern new shop
across from the old one, (read COMMITMENT into that).
Regards,
Willie
P.S. Charles Morgan tells me that the Sales Department has
begun to monitor the ramblings on this List and brings to
his attention any feedback which might be of interest. From
personal experience I can confirm that the Joint Managing
Director is interested in even the most minute product
quality issue. More participation from both British and
Continental owners of newer cars would be a welcome
change in my view.
William G. Lamb, III
Land Rover Specialist
NAS 4.0 Litre Plus 8 (R-11953)
At 08:31 AM 6/24/99 -0400, Ernest(Chip) Brown wrote:
>Werner, I hope that's tongue in cheek! By all accounts, Fink's a nice
>guy and has 'been there' for Morgan owners for a very long time! Would
>any newer Morgans even be in this country were it not for him?? Chip
>Brown
>
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