Inside Line: Smart Roadster to be MG Midget?

[ChevroletRevived]

Smart Roadster Could Be Reborn as New MG Midget

Date posted: 02-21-2006

BIRMINGHAM, England — The battle to relaunch the British MG sports car brand has taken a new and unexpected twist. Now it looks like a new MG could be a version of the discontinued Smart roadster.

DaimlerChrysler has provisionally agreed to license the rights to the Roadster to a British consortium led by David James, one of the failed bidders for MG's parent company, Rover, which collapsed last year.

OK, now pay attention, because it gets complicated. James' Project Kimber team hopes to strike a deal with China's Nanjing Automobile, which bought Rover's assets, to set up a new U.K. operation that would build both the Smart Roadster — which would become a spiritual successor to the cheap-and-cheerful MG Midget of the 1960s — and a new version of the MG TF sports car.

More at link: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=109378

[Bravada]

The Smart Roadster was extremely unpractical but fun - it would be good for both it and the MG to be resurrected. I'd also like to see MG do overkill "performance" sports conversion of selected mainstream cars like they did of Rovers of late - the last lineup was great.

Any ideas of cars you'd like to see "pimped" the MG way?

[FISH]

"Any ideas of cars you'd like to see "pimped" the MG way?"

1. A Smart Car that can corner!

Has anybody seen the topgear "worst handling car" award?!

[Bravada]

Originally Posted by FISH

1. A Smart Car that can corner!

Has anybody seen the topgear "worst handling car" award?!

'

Perhaps the ForTwo is not the ultimate race track machine, but the reviews the Roadster got were very positive as concerns handling. The problem was that a huge proportion of population is arguably to tall to ever try it out

[Elk]

Originally Posted by FISH

1. A Smart Car that can corner!

Has anybody seen the topgear "worst handling car" award?!

No, do you have a link to the video?

[Elk]

Never mind I found it:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...634&q=Top+gear

[Bravada]

As I said, it concerns the ForTwo. It's a self-propelled refrigerator, what would you expect from that? Besides, the Perodua Kenari footage was great (editing, music etc.), but I think TopGear guys were a little unfair here - the Kenari's rear seat wasn't designed to actually be used

Anyway - can you trust these guys? They think the the Golf V looks good!

[mattdaddy]

Wow a city car with built in understeer that can't take a racing turn going top speed. Shocking!

[ChevroletRevived]

I think Project Kimber is fascinating. If they get the tooling, it's a real steal. It takes lots of R&D dollars to develop a range of vehicles like the Smart...espessially for a large company like DCX. $17 million dollars for all that? Their plan is sound; MG has excellent recognition in the US; a new Midget would sell, and get alot of publicity. I sure hope they bring it over here. I wonder how it will look. I thought I heard somewhere that the Roadster was rear engined...is this correct? The ForTwo's handling...lol that would be a sight. The Roadster on the other hand, has great handling...perfect characteristics for a new MG Midget. Way to go Project Kimber!

[Hudson]

As a fan of MG, the Midget in particular, and the Smart Roadster, I would love if this project came through.

The Smart Roadster is rear-engined, just like the ForTwo. But the Roadster sits much lower and, in my opinion, is much better looking. Now if we could get the Brabus V6 Smart Roadster...

[nadepalma]

Source: http://wardsauto.com/ar/auto_rebuffe..._bid/index.htm

Rebuffed in Rover Bid, Project Kimber Now Eyes Smart
By William Diem
WardsAuto.com, Feb 24 2006

Restyled versions of the Smart cars would come back to the market badged as the MG Midget or AC Ace, one source says.

LONDON – Project Kimber, the British group that tried to buy MG Rover, has signed a memorandum of understanding with DaimlerChrysler AG to purchase the tooling and license the engineering of the Smart Roadster and Smart Roadster Coupe.

The agreement gives Project Kimber more substance than when it was outbid for MG Rover's assets by Chinese auto maker Nanjing Automobile Group.

Project Kimber, a consortium of British executives with automotive experience, has said it wants to become a manufacturer of niche vehicles for third parties as well as making its own sports cars.

Restyled versions of the Smart cars would come back to the market badged as the MG Midget or AC Ace, according to a source close to the project. Project Kimber is named for Cecil Kimber, an engineer and racing enthusiast for MG Car Co. Ltd. in the 1920s and 1930s who also had a brief stint at AC Cars.

A spokesman for Project Kimber says the group will have no comment for several weeks, as its negotiations with Nanjing are at a delicate stage.

The subject of the negotiations is not clear. Kimber has been reported in the past to be interested in acquiring the tooling and rights to the MGF roadster. Nanjing said this week it still plans to manufacture vehicles at the former MG Rover plant in Longbridge, U.K. (See related story: Nanjing Inks Lease for MG Rover Plant )

Other reports indicate Kimber is talking to Nanjing about acquiring rights to certain brand names.

The deal with DC also remains fragile, although Project Kimber evidently has put forth a more solid offer than several other companies.

DC said earlier that Project Kimber was not alone in its interest in the Smart roadster.

The memorandum of understanding with DaimlerChrysler "is to draw up a contract within the next few months which would give Project Kimber the license to redesign, produce and sell the former Smart roadster and roadster coupe under a different brand,” DC says in a statement.

The deal, for an unspecified sum, is to be concluded over the next several months.

The British press has reported that the deal is valued between £25 million and £50 million ($45 million to $90 million). Project Kimber said it had financing for the £25 million bid it made for MG Rover last summer. (See related story: SAIC, Magma Make Formal Joint MG Rover Bid )

The DC agreement confirms reports in the British press since November, when the auto maker decided to discontinue the two models. The final Smart versions of the cars, named Collectors Edition, will be unveiled at the Geneva auto show next week.

Project Kimber is headed by David James, a turnaround specialist, working with the de Montfort automotive consultancy, controlled by Barrie Wills, who has worked at Jaguar Cars and DeLorean Motor Co.

Project Kimber's plan is "to assemble specialist sports cars and contract build niche vehicles for third party car manufacturers in the style of Valmet (Automotive) of Finland and Magna Steyr (Fahrzeugtechnik AG & Co. KG) of Austria, recognizing that, whilst there is overcapacity in volume car manufacture across the European Union, there is a severe shortage of niche vehicle production capacity and management skills," Wills said in a statement last summer.

Press reports citing informed sources indicate the project is considering three British locations and a German site for a plant to produce the cars: Longbridge; Coventry, in a former Dunlop factory that was once the home of Jaguar; South Wales near a Ford of Europe engine plant; and Erfurt, Germany, near a DC engine plant.

DC produced 43,000 Smart roadster and roadster coupes, the latter essentially a convertible with a removable hard top, over the 2-year lifetime of the two vehicles.

Production at Smart's plant in eastern France stopped Dec. 2, but the factory had built up a stock of cars to be sold this year, including the Collectors Edition. A Smart spokesman says stocks probably will be depleted by the end of summer in France, where 698 units were registered last year.


DC ended Smart output in December.

[ChevroletRevived]

I posted an article just like this...but this one's good too.

[Bravada]

Well, congrats to Ward's Auto for putting a Smart ForFour picture - this model is new and still going strong, it's the ForTwo-based Roadster that will get the axe (and be reborn at Project Kimber, hopefully).

The MGF was one of the worst put together cars in history, I hope if they will ever make it again, this time they will at least try to do it right. Otherwise, it was a very nice mid-engine roadster.

[Hudson]

Originally Posted by Bravada

Well, congrats to Ward's Auto for putting a Smart ForFour picture - this model is new and still going strong, it's the ForTwo-based Roadster that will get the axe (and be reborn at Project Kimber, hopefully).

The ForTwo Cabrio is different than the Smart Roadster. The Smart Roadster is the car they're talking about, not the ForTwo Cabrio which is still in production.

[Bravada]

Originally Posted by Hudson

The ForTwo Cabrio is different than the Smart Roadster. The Smart Roadster is the car they're talking about, not the ForTwo Cabrio which is still in production.

Which is exactly what I said - where did I mention Smart Cabrio???