MG TF will be more competitive than F

6 February 2002: The latest version of MG Rover’s small sports car, the MG TF, will be available for sale in Ireland in March, and will have an entry-level version which is 500 euros cheaper than the current car’s least expensive version here.

The price range will be 29,175-33,560 euros*, with 1.6- and 1.8-litre engine options outputting between 114bhp and 158bhp. In all there will be four versions of the car, and a range of options which include a Sport Pack incorporating ABS.

The new cars have totally new suspensions, dropping the Hydragas system which has underpinned the car since the launch of the F in 1965 in favour of a modern coil spring system. Changes have also been made to the steering and bodywork, and the K-Series power units have been upgraded. Servicing intervals have been improved, with the first 3,000-mile service now dropped and intervals extended to 15,000 miles a year.

“For the Irish market, the availability of a 1.6-litre MG sports car now aligns us with the key competitor here, and has insurance and taxation advantages,” MG Rover Ireland MD Dave Smith told Irish motoring journalists last night at the car’s international launch in Portugal.

Smith said he is expecting to sell 65 units in Ireland in the coming year, a number broadly in line with last year’s sales of the F, which was a better sales performance than that of the key competitor, the Mazda MX-5.

The MGF has been the top seller for the last six years in the UK in its segment, which includes coupes. The segment grew in Europe by 444% between 1980 and 2000, and since its launch the F has been bought by some 77,500 people. MG Rover expects to sell 14,000 units a year of the new car across all European markets.

The first MG sports car, the 14/28, was built in 1924.

(*Note: The UK price range for the new car is 25,358-32,192 euros)

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February 2002