John Macartney wrote:
>
> Friends,
>
> As some of you may know, we have a magazine in the UK called 'Autocar and
>Motor.' It's
> been around for many years, much respected and its likely the latest edition
>hasn't yet
> hit the US newstands.
> What it contains is an article suggesting that BMW may well decide to
>resurrect the
> Triumph name in preference to continuing with the Rover name. The suggestion
>is that this
> may do magical things to the erstwhile Rover image on a global stage.
Mere re-badging will not do a thing for the BMW image, or the Rover
image, or the Triumph history.
> Frankly, this may be a journalism hoax with no foundation of truth at all.
>But there
> again, I'm wondering that if there should be a grain of truth lurking in
>there, have BMW
> taken leave of their senses?
This issue comes up every few months, and there's never any substance to
it. But, in essence, you're right, John. Calling a badly-built Rover a
Triumph would be an indignity to all concerned, Rover included.
> If the change does come to pass and the people in the
> corridors of power see future products going Stateside with a Triumph badge
>hung on the
> side, front or back and offer a range of saloons - won't they go flat on
>their faces in
> the mud?
Yes, very likely. A Rover 3500 saloon car is not a Triumph. Period.
> Surely someone in Munich ought to do some homework and determine what it was
>that made
> Triumph an acceptable and marketable product in North America. It wasn't
>anything to do
> with saloons, no matter how well they may have been received in other world
>markets. It
> was simply a question that Triumph made a sports car that the sales were made
>- and if BMW
> don't come up with a sports car for the US/Canadian market called Triumph,
>isn't this just
> an enormous waste of money - and little else?
Yes, it is. But, badges are cheap. I suspect that all this talk is a
means of keeping the Quandt family interested, and is simply a means by
BMW of forestalling talk of the possibility of the Quandt's selling
their share in BMW. The Quandt's will probably see through the ploy, and
if they don't, they deserve to lose their family billions.
Quite simply, there isn't a Triumph enthusiast in this country who would
not await, with more than a little excitement, the arrival of a
re-engineered, truly reborn, Triumph, as long as the car were true to
its roots. A rebadged, badly-built, Rover would be received in the US in
the same fashion as was the Edsel.
Cheers, John, and thanks for the news report.
--
Michael D. Porter
Roswell, NM
mailto: mporter@zianet.com
`70 GT6+ (being refurbished, slowly)
`71 GT6 Mk. III (organ donor)
`72 GT6 Mk. III (daily driver)
`64 TR4 (awaiting intensive care)
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