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PLAYTIME: Rover is joining other manufacturers in the sports car craze by relaunching its MG this summer with a price tag higher than expected but will certainly meet buyers demand for individuality
DESIGN CLASSIC:The MX-5 started a revival
Other than adding a touch of pazzaz to the showroom, Ray Hutton looks at how successful open top two seater sports cars will really beAfter years on the margin of the automotive business, suddenly sports cars are hot.
DESIGN CLASSIC:The MX-5 started a revival
Other than adding a touch of pazzaz to the showroom, Ray Hutton looks at how successful open top two seater sports cars will really beAfter years on the margin of the automotive business, suddenly sports cars are hot.
MG, Fiat, and Renault previewed new open topped two seater production cars at the Geneva Show last week. A new Alfa Romeo Spider will be on the road soon and, by this time next year, there will be new sports roadsters from BMW and Mercedes Benz.The big question for the trade and industry is simply this, are there enough customers for this new generation of fun cars?
Though the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) registration data does not single out two seater convertibles, a closer study of the sales charts for 1994, plus some intelligent guesswork about numbers from some of the more specialised producers, suggests that about 5,500 such cars were sold in the UK last year.
This figure includes everything from the tiny Suzuki Cappuccino to the Mercedes SL600 and the Chrysler Viper.
Narrowed down to the sub-œ20,000 category, the 1994 UK sales total is around 2,500 units. Which begins to explain why Fiat has decided not to commission a right hand drive version of the Barchetta.
The car that started the sports car revival was the Mazda MX- 5. Conceived in America and produced by the Japanese company that sees its special role in niche models, the MX-5 currently accounts for a full half of the sales of the cheaper two seaters.
Some 1,250 units were sold last year. Worldwide, the MX-5 has sold 350,000 in six years.
Though it has a retro-style, it has become a design classic in its own right. This week, an MX-5 California limited edition takes pride of place in an exhibition at the Design Museum in London.
This performance is obviously the target for the new sports car contenders. However, the majority of MX-5s have been sold in the United States, where cars are cheaper and more youngsters can afford new ones, and the three car family is a significant factor in the market.
The MG won’t be sold in America, at least not initially, and in announcing the withdrawal of Alfa Romeo in January, Fiat finally said goodbye to the US car market.
So the success of the newcomers will depend on Europe – and Japan. Fiat’s assessment of the European market for two seater convertibles seems pessimistic. According to Fiat, the European market total was 20,000 cars in 1991, reduced to 7,300 last year (of which our figures suggest a major share was in the UK). It predicts an upswing to 30,000 units in 1995 and 50,000 in 1997. Rover doesn’t like to make sales predictions but is set up to make 30,000 MGFs a year.
The fact that these cars are being produced at all tells us of an important change in attitude by the bigger car manufacturers. Fifteen years ago, the Rover Group’s predecessors closed down the MG factory at Abingdon and signed the death warrant for Triumph sports cars.
The line then was that such models only really sold in America and the dollar exchange rate meant losing money on every one. Special cars, made in volumes below 100,000 units a year
were not viable. Fiat’s view was much the same, and cars like the 124 Sport, X1/9 and Lancia Monte Carlo were not replaced.
Now, we are told, lean production makes the difference. Manufacturers have the production flexibility that makes niche models possible. In fact, they are responding to today’s markets that demand more individuality, and expect a wide choice of products.
Though they use a large number of common parts with high volume hatchbacks, neither the Fiat Barchetta nor the MGF are made on the same production lines as mainstream models. Fiat have contracted out the 15,000 units a year Barchetta production to Maggiora, based in the old Lancia plant at Chivasso. However, the MG’s very ex istence depends on a joint venture with the Motor Panels, part of the Mayflower Group, which makes its bodyshell.
Interestingly, both of these cars offer engines which will later have a wider application. Co-incidentally they are 1.8-litre 16-valve 4-cylinders, including a device to vary the valve timing. The MG’s VVC version of the 1.8-litre K-series engine is more powerful than Fiat’s, with 145PS to 130.
There are fundamental differences between the MG, Fiat and Mazda but those not dictated not so much by production constraints as philosophy.
The Mazda uses 323 parts but its creators believed that it was important to follow the traditional British two seater and drive the rear wheels. Fiat reckon that there is a whole generation of motorists who have never driven anything other than front wheel drive and will expect the same fail safe handling from a new sports car. Rover, somewhat surprisingly, has taken the more radical design approach and produced a mid-engined MG, which should please racing fans, as well as today’s Toyota MR2 buyers. It may be that the Rover solution is more expensive. Certainly, the price predicted for when the MGF goes on sale (through a selected 125 dealers) just in time for August, is higher than had been expected: œ16,000 for the lower specification 1.8i.
The MX5 starts at œ14,495 and the left hand drive only Fiat is expected to be priced about the same. These cars are welcome. They are good for a marque’s image and add pizzazz to the showroom.
There is a pent-up demand for a new MG that should make it a big success this summer. But, longer term, how many open two seater playthings can you sell? That’s also what an increasing number of the world’s car makers would like to know.
MAKERS justWANT TO HAVE FUN
Though the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) registration data does not single out two seater convertibles, a closer study of the sales charts for 1994, plus some intelligent guesswork about numbers from some of the more specialised producers, suggests that about 5,500 such cars were sold in the UK last year.
This figure includes everything from the tiny Suzuki Cappuccino to the Mercedes SL600 and the Chrysler Viper.
Narrowed down to the sub-œ20,000 category, the 1994 UK sales total is around 2,500 units. Which begins to explain why Fiat has decided not to commission a right hand drive version of the Barchetta.
The car that started the sports car revival was the Mazda MX- 5. Conceived in America and produced by the Japanese company that sees its special role in niche models, the MX-5 currently accounts for a full half of the sales of the cheaper two seaters.
Some 1,250 units were sold last year. Worldwide, the MX-5 has sold 350,000 in six years.
Though it has a retro-style, it has become a design classic in its own right. This week, an MX-5 California limited edition takes pride of place in an exhibition at the Design Museum in London.
This performance is obviously the target for the new sports car contenders. However, the majority of MX-5s have been sold in the United States, where cars are cheaper and more youngsters can afford new ones, and the three car family is a significant factor in the market.
The MG won’t be sold in America, at least not initially, and in announcing the withdrawal of Alfa Romeo in January, Fiat finally said goodbye to the US car market.
So the success of the newcomers will depend on Europe – and Japan. Fiat’s assessment of the European market for two seater convertibles seems pessimistic. According to Fiat, the European market total was 20,000 cars in 1991, reduced to 7,300 last year (of which our figures suggest a major share was in the UK). It predicts an upswing to 30,000 units in 1995 and 50,000 in 1997. Rover doesn’t like to make sales predictions but is set up to make 30,000 MGFs a year.
The fact that these cars are being produced at all tells us of an important change in attitude by the bigger car manufacturers. Fifteen years ago, the Rover Group’s predecessors closed down the MG factory at Abingdon and signed the death warrant for Triumph sports cars.
The line then was that such models only really sold in America and the dollar exchange rate meant losing money on every one. Special cars, made in volumes below 100,000 units a year
were not viable. Fiat’s view was much the same, and cars like the 124 Sport, X1/9 and Lancia Monte Carlo were not replaced.
Now, we are told, lean production makes the difference. Manufacturers have the production flexibility that makes niche models possible. In fact, they are responding to today’s markets that demand more individuality, and expect a wide choice of products.
Though they use a large number of common parts with high volume hatchbacks, neither the Fiat Barchetta nor the MGF are made on the same production lines as mainstream models. Fiat have contracted out the 15,000 units a year Barchetta production to Maggiora, based in the old Lancia plant at Chivasso. However, the MG’s very ex istence depends on a joint venture with the Motor Panels, part of the Mayflower Group, which makes its bodyshell.
Interestingly, both of these cars offer engines which will later have a wider application. Co-incidentally they are 1.8-litre 16-valve 4-cylinders, including a device to vary the valve timing. The MG’s VVC version of the 1.8-litre K-series engine is more powerful than Fiat’s, with 145PS to 130.
There are fundamental differences between the MG, Fiat and Mazda but those not dictated not so much by production constraints as philosophy.
The Mazda uses 323 parts but its creators believed that it was important to follow the traditional British two seater and drive the rear wheels. Fiat reckon that there is a whole generation of motorists who have never driven anything other than front wheel drive and will expect the same fail safe handling from a new sports car. Rover, somewhat surprisingly, has taken the more radical design approach and produced a mid-engined MG, which should please racing fans, as well as today’s Toyota MR2 buyers. It may be that the Rover solution is more expensive. Certainly, the price predicted for when the MGF goes on sale (through a selected 125 dealers) just in time for August, is higher than had been expected: œ16,000 for the lower specification 1.8i.
The MX5 starts at œ14,495 and the left hand drive only Fiat is expected to be priced about the same. These cars are welcome. They are good for a marque’s image and add pizzazz to the showroom.
There is a pent-up demand for a new MG that should make it a big success this summer. But, longer term, how many open two seater playthings can you sell? That’s also what an increasing number of the world’s car makers would like to know.
MAKERS justWANT TO HAVE FUN