MG still has last year's anniversary stock Posted 2010/03/23 @ 1:00 PM By Myles Kornblatt
MG celebrated its 85th anniversary in 2009. While it wasn’t 85 years of continuous production, and ownership has moved from England to China, this was still a milestone worth commemorating. For those who are just hearing about all this now, it’s still not too late to celebrate.
MG created an 85th Anniversary package for the TF roadster. The package uses the 1.8-liter 133 hp car as a base and includes special alloy wheels, unique exterior colors, exterior graphics, leather seats, and a new Bilstein suspension with an Eibach anti-roll bar system. All of this only costs £15,664, which is diesel VW Golf money in the U.K.
While most companies would likely limit production to 85 cars to coincide with the anniversary, MG went for the conservative approach and produced 50. Now it’s six-months later, and it seems MG aimed too high. As of last week, five of these limited edition models were still available from two MG dealers in the U.K.
Anyone who may be swayed from buying one of these remaining anniversary cars because it’s last year’s model shouldn’t look for anything fresher at any of MG’s 40-ish dealerships. MG suspended TF production at its Longbridge facility in October 2009 to compensate for the low sales when the roadster is out of “season”.
Now that spring is in full bloom, hopefully MG will be able to clear out the remaining anniversary cars and get back to work on the 2010 roadsters. Also don’t forget the West Midlands of England have their fingers crossed the MG will soon start work on the new MG 6 sedan.
THE REST OF THE STORY
The unfortunate modern history of MG’s roadsters is cars that live on well past their sell-by date. MG had built its reputation for being sporty and stylish, and it’s spent the last 36 years cashing it in.
Before the MGF (basis for today’s TF series), the last true MG was the MGB roadster. It was first on the market in 1962. But a dozen years later it became saddled with an ugly rubber bumper, poor suspension, and detuned engine, all to meet new regulations in the U.S. – MG’s largest market at the time. When the MGB finally was killed in 1980, the MG name was only used for badge engineered performance models of other cars.
When the MGF arrived in 1995, it was a promising design that looked like a proper MG. But it had reliability issues, and that couldn’t be tolerated in the age of the dependable Mazda Miata. By the time the MGF was trustworthy, the sports world had passed it by. Today, the TF series is a warmed-over version of the MGF, which means the few who choose an MG car in the U.K. are likely buying nostalgia over substance. This can easily explain why 10% of the MG TF’s anniversary stock is still waiting to be picked up.
