3 posts tagged “mg tf”

We should have some confidence in the MG TF under Nanjing—principally because its competition is worried. The closest rival, the Mazda MX-5 Mk III, in pretty much every respect the better car, has spawned a limited edition in the UK to coincide with the relaunch of the TF at Longbridge last week.
   Limited editions and the British go together like Morecambe and Wise, but this quotation in Motortorque was telling:

“Since the demise of the MG TF and Toyota MR2, there is no longer a defined ‘roadster’ segment within the non-premium sports car market,” commented Mazda UK´s Managing Director Rob Lindley.

   Mazda gently reminded people that the previous MG had died and there were dangers about buying the resurrected car. It’s very subtle, but I am sure that the MD’s statement was geared to do that.
   However, it just shows that Mazda is concerned that a relaunched TF will snap sales up, and there’ll be Brits holding off buying an MX-5 because of the developments at Longbridge.
   I think NAC MG has been very kind to Mazda given that it could bring up the war … oops, did I just write that? Whatever you do, don’t mention the war.
   I mentioned it just then, but I think I got away with it.
   ‘You started it. You invaded Manchuria.’
   Speculation in the British media is about the MG TF’s price, which by most accounts needs to be lower than it was when MG Rover collapsed in 2005.
   Meanwhile, Paul Stowe, NAC MG’s own blogger and the company’s quality boss, is rightly upset about the negative tone some in the British media have taken. He points out two alternatives in his blog, in some way reinforcing my own points that NAC didn’t have to reopen Longbridge, and that its boss, Yu Jiang Wei, should be applauded for pushing through its restart last week.

PS.: To those who do not know me, I should point out that no malice is intended toward the people of Japan in this post. Most of my Japanese friends know my sense of humour and how I use World War II as part of my humour.—JY

It’s interesting to get the Communist Party’s official news on the NAC MG Longbridge ceremony in the People’s Daily, which includes claims of NAC’s popularity in Europe (false; it is MG’s) and the highest honour being given to the MG 7 (née MG ZT) at Auto Shanghai, the Shanghai Motor Show (probably true, but so far I have not seen this reported in western media). The criticisms have been removed (e.g. whether 130 was too small a workforce and union demands for an increase, and the age of the MG TF design shown). On the whole, however, I believe the Longbridge ceremony to be good news, so this article doesn’t really rub me too badly.

[Cross-posted] For those concerned about the quality of Chinese MGs, this quotation from the Murdoch Press should be a relief:

The [Longbridge] factory start-up was scheduled for next month, but preproduction models have not met the standard NAC has set. Now the best estimate is for the TF assembly line to be in full operation in the autumn, with the first cars available to customers at the turn of the year.

   What I take from this is: the new MGs will be of better quality than what was coming off the lines at Longbridge before the old MG Rover collapsed. Which is a relief, as according to my regular mechanic who gets his share of English cars, what was being built was rather below par.