[yankmgmaven]

Stephen,

About three weeks ago, I was e-mailed by a person who works at Longbridge with a PM. The source, in the course of discussion, said that the appearance of MG-R here could be sooner rather than later, and a colleague who works in International Marketing had returned to England three months prior after talks with an interestig partner in the USA. The closing comment was keep the faith. Hmmmm. Hope you are still monitoring this forum. Sort of jibes with what Julierob was saying last January.

 

[Ivantate]

Pity Lotus have used the toyota engine or they could have helped to homologate the K for the states.

Suppose it will be the TF and 75 that are sold.

 

[Richard Moss]

If that Toyota engine fits the Elise then it would fit MGR products.....................

 

[yankmgmaven]

I have just learned that the TF won't be sold here, as its replacement will be a coupe/convertible with lotus suspension due to the tie-in with Proton. It might use a version of the K2000 engine, as the 1.8 apparently has emission problems and tends to be noisy. The ZT/75 variants probably will lead any launch with the new midsize variants in Rover and MG guise. The TF replacement would follow later. The KV6 engine is already certified as it is sold in the Land Rover Freelander. The TF replacement might use the elise chassis but I'm not certain of that.

 

[RayCee]

I read that Lotus only expect to sell 2,000 units pa in the states for two years. Then the Lotus enthusiasts will have got their fix and sales may fall off after that, unless new converts keep coming to the fold. Does that sound like the numbers and senario MGR will face when they do go Stateside?

 

[yankmgmaven]

The scenario wouldn't be quite the same between MG-R and Lotus. ZT/75, and the new mid-size would appeal to a much wider base of customer than either the elise or the TF replacement. Given current currency exchange rates, the ZT/75 would probably have to be sourced in China, or Poland in order to be priced under Jaguar, unless british OTR price equals the price in US dollars, as Jaguar did with the X-type.

 

[RayCee]

The scenario wouldn't be quite the same between MG-R and Lotus. ZT/75, and the new mid-size would appeal to a much wider base of customer than either the elise or the TF replacement. Given current currency exchange rates, the ZT/75 would probably have to be sourced in China, or Poland in order to be priced under Jaguar, unless british OTR price equals the price in US dollars, as Jaguar did with the X-type.

So how many would be sold if the price came under the X Type? I think Jag sell about 50,000 units in the US pa, perhaps half X Type? Jag is a well est name over there so I would expect initially about 8,000 75/ZT, settling down perhaps 5,000. Sounds OK?
As for where I would find these stats on a monthly basis, is there anywhere one can access basic sales by brand for the USA? Most Western countries have that facility somewhere.