There are lies, damned lies, and statistics. BL quoted heavy losses on
the MGB - but they never made public the equivalent TR7 costs. According
to my sources, the "costs" used in the equation (and of course we never
actually saw these - only the end result of the calculation) included
the entire cost of running the BL Leonia operation as an overhead.
Whilst it is true that the MGB was using increasingly unique parts, and
the cost of keeping it on sale was increasing, much of the tooling costs
had been written off long ago, and next to the TR7 (which had switched
factories twice in its life!) it was a bargain.
----------
From: The Richards
To: David Knowles; mgs
Subject: Re: MGF Not in America - more info
Date: 10 November 1997 12:44
The market is very tough and MG did not want to do what
>they did with the MGB and lose money on every car sold.
All though Graham qualified his quotes with disclaimer, I think it
should be
pointed out that this statement would be true only of late rubber bumper
models. And if I'm not mistaken, didn't MG management dispute the manner
in
which this 'loss' was computed? (Guess they would've, eh?) Or perhaps it
was
only vs. the profit levels of other (re:Tr**mph) models being sold.
Michael, New Bern, NC
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