Will MG's New Owners Bring the GT Concept to Life?MG, the classic British sports car firm which hasn't sold cars in North America for quite some time,
 |
| MG hasn't sold cars in North America for quite some time, and up until yesterday looked as if it might never find its way out of bankruptcy. (Photo: MG-Rover Group) |
and up until yesterday looked as if it might never find its way out of bankruptcy, came up with a concept car intended to whet the appetites of automotive enthusiasts around the world back when the company was still solvent, by digging into MG's rich history.
America's love affair with the open-topped, lightweight sports car can be traced back through a lineage of British machines such as the Austin-Healey 'Bugeye' Sprite, and the Triumph Spitfire and TR-series', but it was MG's low-horsepower, minimalist TB and TC models of the mid-to-late '40s that
 |
| While the next generation roadster is still a few years away, the brand's new Chinese owners may want to expand the sports car range with a "fixed head" version of the stylish roadster. (Photo: MG-Rover Group) |
provided levels of excitement few other vehicles could for their relatively low price tags. Prior to going into receivership, MG offered a wide variety of vehicles, from the zippy Honda Civic-derived ZR hatchback and ZS sports sedan, to the refined BMW-designed ZT midsize and the ZT-T sports wagon. MG also sold the SV, a high-horsepower, carbon fiber-bodied supercar with enough brute force to overturn the most powerful Porsches, Jaguars and Maseratis. While this array of performance-tuned cars represented the bulk of the MG range, only one model had preserved the heritage of the "Octagon" and its two-seat roadsters -- the mid-engined, Miata-sized TF, a car that captures the essence of MG's glory days.
