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. @ Oct 11th 2007 1:12PM
neon meets thunderbird meets sky meets uncle cadillac in a dark alley for a gang bang and,.... poof! Triumphant return of the Triumph.
Huis @ Oct 11th 2007 1:20PM
Something about that front end makes keeps making me think it's an early rejected retro prototype for the new Camaro.
The Other Bob @ Oct 11th 2007 3:25PM
I thought the same thing.
Chad @ Oct 11th 2007 2:16PM
Me too.
Richard @ Oct 11th 2007 8:04PM
I see the first generation Infiniti G35
DHG @ Oct 11th 2007 1:24PM
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.
Alex Nunez @ Oct 11th 2007 1:36PM
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 @ Oct 11th 2007 1:26PM
wow, looks great.
i love it. one of the most beautiful prototypes i ever saw.
jim @ Oct 11th 2007 1:32PM
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.
mk @ Oct 11th 2007 1:33PM
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.
David @ Oct 11th 2007 1:44PM
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!
Spaceweasel @ Oct 11th 2007 1:50PM
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.
mk @ Oct 11th 2007 1:54PM
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.
Exner @ Oct 11th 2007 1:55PM
That front end is straight off the '74 AMC Matador coupe.
whofan @ Oct 11th 2007 6:48PM
I thought about the old Ford Maverick at first glance.
Zerk @ Oct 11th 2007 2:07PM
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.
mk @ Oct 11th 2007 2:44PM
I disagree.
It would not be a FWD economy car. Different market than Mini, with slightly different customers for different reasons. I might consider a Mini for my wife. I would buy a Triumph for myself.
However, the small-company attentiveness to detail and purpose, and the new-mini's configurability and style would be fantastic for an affordable RWD sports car, as a complimentary brand. I like the way Mini markets and sells their car. I like the details, and the execution. I just don't need or want a FWD compact hatch. I would love a RWD sports car, though.
It would have to be less expensive and luxurious than the BMW models, in order not to compete with BMW directly, which would naturally put it right into the thick of the affordable sports car market, between $25-35k. Miata, Sol/Sky, S2000, 350Z, RX8, etc...
Which is where BMW has nothing currently, and none of those have the british pedigree of the Triumph name, or a classically british design. NB Miata kind of had it, but the new one has retreated from copying "britishness". Solstice missed the british feel, if they were even going for that, and Sky is attractive, but modern, rather than classic.
Boxster and Z4 are both above this market segment, and more premium-oriented than a Triumph would need to be. The 1-series is perhaps in the same price range, but as an inexpensive way to get a car with a roundel. I doubt Triumph would dissuade people from buying their "Beemer". A Triumph would be for people who want sports car design heritage and performance, not ladder-climbing luxury car brand status.
Theoretically, with Mini, the Triumph name could be used as a sort of brand-module name, both for the make and model. Mini is the name of the brand, and it's only car, with variations of that car having descriptors, like Clubman, Cooper S, etc.
Triumph could be sold in very much the same way. Triumph being the brand comprized of a single model base, in two body styles. Spitfire for I4 convertible, GT4 for I4 coupe. Maybe "TR6" as the package name for the Spitfire with the 6-cylinder engine, and GT6 for the 6-cylinder coupe.
For even more enthusiasm, package them with M-tuning on the BMW I-4, and the Z4-M/E46 M3's inline 6, even as an option. I would love to see a better "british" looking, less luxurious and expensive, pure performance car with the BMW M-inline 6, vs the Z4-M.
BMW has brought to market the I6 performance with the twin-turbo, let Triumph use a naturally aspirated M-tuned engine in a light, stylish, affordable sports car.
The same marketing, distribution, and sales infrastructure that is already handling the Mini can add this as a second model. Basically two car model lines, the Mini line, and the Triumph line. That would absorb a lot of the costs with rolling it out, the structure is already there.
A bit of design and manufacturing input from the BMW parent business, as I said, perhaps further amortizing the current Z4 platform under new skin, when it's replacement takes over on the BMW lots. As car development goes, this might not be all that expensive, compared to starting a whole new company or business unit.
mk @ Oct 11th 2007 2:09PM
Triumph Motorcycles and Triumph cars have been separate for more than half a century, with an agreement to jointly hold the marque name between two different and independent companies.
Kind of like Triumph Motorcycles allowing Pontiac to use the nameplate Bonneville for cars, even though that was a name for their bikes.
Triumph motorcycles eventually got conglomerated into BSA, with Ariel, and Norton, and others, IIRC, and Triumph cars became part of British Leyland, with MG, Land Rover/Range Rover, Mini, and others which is how BMW got ALL of those name brands, when they bought out British Leyland's evolution, renamed to the Rover group.
BMW didn't liquidate all of them, just some, mostly MG/Rover Cars; and Land Rover and Jaguar, which were costing them the most money, which they sold to Ford, and Ford is now trying to liquidate, as well.
Ironically, Rolls Royce was not one of those, but BMW owns that one too, split from Bentley (now VAG) after the better part of a century.
Aston Martin was also privately held before Ford bought it, and now liquidated it again.
British marques have been split up and re-combined in all sorts of ways for decades.
akatsuki @ Oct 11th 2007 2:09PM
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.
Turan Ahmed @ Oct 11th 2007 2:13PM
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