More speculation of Triumph return
England has an illustrious history of producing beautiful motorized transportation. Unfortunately, many of the Queen's car companies are either in big trouble, or they have gone the way of the Dodo. The Triumph car company made beautiful cars, but by the early 80s Triumph was associated only with unreliability and re-badged Rovers and Hondas.
Back in 1994, BMW purchased the Rover group, which included Land Rover, Mini, MG, and Triumph, among others. While Rover, Land Rover, and MG ended poorly, Mini has been a gold mine. Auto Express is reporting that the German automaker is now looking into breathing life into the famed Triumph name, and we're all for it. Imagine BMW engineering coupled with Triumph styling; that's one well-heeled couple. An additional marque could add volume to BMW while bringing down the cost of shared parts, and if BMW could manage to keep Triumph styling alive like it did for Mini, the top brass in Munich would be dizzy from cartwheels.
Click the Read link to view more renderings of what a triumphant return of Triumph might look like.[Source: Auto Express]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
John P. 1:12PM (10/11/2007)
neon meets thunderbird meets sky meets uncle cadillac in a dark alley for a gang bang and,.... poof! Triumphant return of the Triumph.
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Huis 1:20PM (10/11/2007)
Something about that front end makes keeps making me think it's an early rejected retro prototype for the new Camaro.
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The Other Bob 3:25PM (10/11/2007)
I thought the same thing.
Chad 2:16PM (10/11/2007)
Me too.
Richard 8:04PM (10/11/2007)
I see the first generation Infiniti G35
alexer 9:07PM (10/12/2007)
makes me think of the new camaro. i dont why!...
DHG 1:24PM (10/11/2007)
As far as I know that image of a Triumph is a completely speculative piece of fantasy nonsense from Auto Express, a magazine not known for truth or accuracy.
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Alex Nunez 1:36PM (10/11/2007)
I believe you're 100% correct about the rendering, DHG. That said, if BMW could manage to put together a modern TR6 interpretation (assuming they were to resurrect Triumph as a brand), it could be interesting.
raz 1:26PM (10/11/2007)
wow, looks great.
i love it. one of the most beautiful prototypes i ever saw.
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mk 1:33PM (10/11/2007)
They can do a lot better than the pictured car.
I would LOVE to see triumph come back as an affordable british sports and GT cars. I LOVE aston martin, but that isn't exactly in my budget.
An affordable british nameplate would be great, especially with reliable and readily-available engineering.
Amid MG closing up and going to China, TVR closing up and going to Italy, or something, neither of which are available in the US, and the 'Healey' renovation not yet materializing, and Jaguar canning the XKF concept sports car, the british sports car market is out of reach to most, who can't afford an XK8, Noble, or Aston V8.
It seems that the only affordable british sports cars are being sold by japanese or american companies, Mazda's Miata sports car torch-bearer, and Saturn's Sky, as a vauxhall VX-Lightning design badged to the Saturn and Opel brands; and maybe it's sister Solstice.
A new Spitfire and GT6 (roadster/coupe pair)... And designed WELL, sounds fantastic to me. Especially with a BMW inline 4 or 6, under the price of the Z4. (and not as ugly as the z4.
Re-skin the current Z4 as it's replacement comes down the pipe. De-content it, lighten it up a bit, and make it look like a real blend of classic curves and modern details, (much like the mini) and put a retouched Z4 coupe's hatchback, quarter windows, and double-bubble roof on it, and you have a worthy successor to the Spitfire and GT6. Lighter and less plush should bring the price down, and differentiate it from BMW's own 3/4 series roadster/coupe pair.
The Spitfire name is more recognizeably british, and GT6 is fairly self-explanatory (GT coupe, 6-cylinder). Some people might recognize the TR* series... but it previously ended at TR8, and doesn't have many more numbers to go, and probably isn't as recognizeable by younger buyers.
At least Spitfire can conjure up some aggression, and anyone familiar with WWII might remember it as a fighter plane, like the Mustang. Gee, that never got translated to a car... :D
Just ditch that pictured concept, and design a real british sports car shape. Coke-bottle curves, maybe even a front tilting hood/bumper cover shell, and center exit exhaust, like the old e-type, as well as the Spitfire and GT6 used to have. The recent Mini has a clam-shell-like hood, too.
Make it look like a smaller, more affordable Jaguar/Aston Martin Jr. New british sports car designs are some of the best looking cars ever, and this shouldn't be the exception, even if it is affordable.
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prescottc 10:24PM (5/22/2009)
I think you hit the nail on the head. Sucessful british cars have curves. (TR3, Spitfire, GT6, Etype, Aston, TVR, Healy). A moden spitfire could compete much better with Miata, especially with a BMW powerplant under the hood.
Make it light and make it affordable. It has to perform but at a much cheaper cost. Under $20K. (No GPS, no power windows, no a/c, no power seats, leather option maybe... think Elise). Stick an IPOD compatible radio in it for people who think you need music to drive and give the rest of us purests something to rally with.
It needs to perform. One should have to constantly be in fear of getting speeding tickets because it is that much fun to drive a little quicker.
I owned TR7s. They were great. My dream was always a TR3, but now that I have the money, who has the time to tinker. Ergo..lastly.... MAKE IT RELIABLE!!
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Turan Ahmed 2:13PM (10/11/2007)
Suspect strategically that BMW is seriously condidering co-licensing that the brand rights to Triumph (and other various olde worlde British marques) to an emerging Chinese manufacturer who wants 'western/British heritage'; similar to the way Nanjing bought MG and SAIC bought Rover.
Probably to take place after the imminent consolidation of the Chinese auto-sector, such a deal could provide added BMW capacity/platform sharing for the Chinese market and Asian export markets.
Such 'PR reveals' could well be intended to whet the appetites of China's auto executives looking for their own domestic and export growth paths.
Turan Ahmed - 'investment-auto-motives' - London
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jim 1:32PM (10/11/2007)
Adding additional models and selling them through the Mini franchises will certainly be popular with the owners as having only 3 models to sell might make a good stool but is also a very risky business.
Besides the sports cars, which were the only Triumphs that came to the US in any numbers, Triumph had a full line of sedans. BMW could sell a two seat roadster & coupe and also a couple of larger sedans with out bastardizing the legacy of the Mini name.
Go for it.
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David 1:44PM (10/11/2007)
Why do this now? They could have done it with MG instead of dumping it in the garbage like they did. MG is 100 times more recognizable than Triumph ever was. I think they should leave well enough alone and not bring it back. Though it would be nostalgic to have a new Triumph with the reliability of the 7 Series. It would be so fitting!
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Spaceweasel 1:50PM (10/11/2007)
I wonder if there will be any marketplace confusion about the ties between Triumph cars and Triumph bikes. That aside, I like the idea of a 1 series BMW with updated classic British styling. Lose the excessive electronics (it is British, afterall) and put some fun roadsters on the streets.
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mk 1:54PM (10/11/2007)
MG was an operating company, with costs, products, labor, and all sorts of things in place that were costing money, and would cost more money to change.
Triumph now, as a car company, is basically a fresh start, like Mini was a few years ago, and it only needs to be as big as BMW would want to make it. Only as much cost as necessary, not tons and tons of previous obligation.
I agree that MG is a better known name. I wish MG had been handled and managed better. But legacy costs are no small matter, as the Big 3 also well know.
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Exner 1:55PM (10/11/2007)
That front end is straight off the '74 AMC Matador coupe.
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whofan 6:48PM (10/11/2007)
I thought about the old Ford Maverick at first glance.
akatsuki 2:09PM (10/11/2007)
While Triumph or MG coming back would be great, it would be a pretty tough market. I think it would be better to bring a mid-range British mark back under Jaguar so that Jaguar need not sully its name with cars under $60K.
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Zerk 2:07PM (10/11/2007)
It will never happen. Triumph would cannibalize BMW and MINI sales if the cars were executed well and would only waste money if executed poorly.
I do not see BMW adding another brand anytime in the future.
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