I once read a statement from a Rover spokesman that indicated it was
initially a budget decision. It was nip-and-tuck whether they were going
to get the go ahead on the MGF project, and designing it to meet US regs
would have pushed the costs up to a point that management might have
killed it. Of course, they couldn't have known how successful it was
going to become, so they probably were budgeting for a low volume of
sales.
BMW ownership and the Z3 didn't come along until later, so probably
didn't figure into it at all. But the Z3 certainly figures into planning
for the MGF replacement (the MGG?). But that's been discussed to death --
I propose we just wait and see what transpires.
Anyway, to answer the question, it's that the MGF doesn't meet US
regulations, and that BMW/Rover doesn't think it can be economically
modified to do so. This leads me to suspect that it is the crash-test
standard that is the problem, not emissions. Crushability has to be
designed into the unit body from the start using sophisticated computer
techniques. It can't really be retrofitted without expensive redesign and
retooling. Emissions, in an electronically controlled engine, should have
been trivial to modify.
Bill Saidel had this to say:
>Why is the MGF not sold in the states? Is it because of the Z-3 or is there
>a technical reason?
>
>Inquiring minds want to know.
>
>
>Bill
>
>**********************************************************************
>Dr. Bill Saidel
>Assoc. Prof. Vocal phone (609) 225-6336
>Department of Biology FAX (609) 225-6312
>Science Building email: saidel@crab.rutgers.edu
>315 Penn St.
>Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
>Camden, NJ 08102 -1411
>http://crab.rutgers.edu/~saidel/saidel.html
>
>
>The trouble with being hypothesis driven is that you never get to make a
>discovery.
>Mike Land (vision scientist) - 1999
>
--
Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
If you're near Mountain View, CA,
it's the red one with the silver bootlid.
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