Sloane:
While the thought is romantic, I must say that the car business
is changing so rapidly that I question the possibility. There is a
global surplus of automotive capacity, and the volumes required to break
even on anything except a niche vehicle are out of reach for anything
like a TR roadster, IMHO.
It will be interesting to see how the Solstice and the Saturn
roadsters do. The Solstice is going head to head with the MX5/Miata, a
place where GM has fared poorly - remember the Fiero? Nissan is also
going to introduce a roadster in the US. So you have (for the moment)
Mazda, BMW, Porsche, Pontiac and Saturn now shipping roadsters. Then you
get into the specialty marks like Lotus, Maseratti, etc. On the horizon
are the Chinese who have purchased the MG mark, who knows where that
will go?
I suppose one could look at the Mini and claim that it is an
existence proof that the romantic marks of 30 years ago can come back,
but the Mini was much more a bread and butter sub-compact than a
roadster. BMW has sold a lot of them using the "cute" factor, but will
that be enough for a TR9 roadster?
I enjoy my TR6 as much for the fact that they are extinct as
anything. I originally thought I would get a Miata, and tinker with
that, but I rejected it as too mainstream. I opted for nostalgia and
risk (yes, British cars are risky I feel) rather than reliable and
"cute". I have been very happy with my choice, and in fact I wonder why
I waited so long.
Cheers,
Vance
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-6pack@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-6pack@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of im sloane
Sent: February 02, 2006 5:12 AM
To: 6pack@autox.team.net
Subject: RE: Could Triumph be next?
I'm not sure how I'd feel to see a TR-9 past me on the interstate. Kinda
happy, kinda sad in a way. Imagine if it was a retro looking Six, with
the
front badge in the same lettering, just the 6 upside down. Guess that
would
be pretty kewl. I think the sticker would make me cry. :)
Sloane :)
'69-Six
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