QVALE - Why aren't they in the UK???
Discussion
www.qvaleauto.com/home.htm
Am i right in thinking that this lot were bought out by MG Rover some years back so they could produce the MG SV?? So then they couldn't produce a right hand drive version for the UK? I remember seeing this car at the Motorshow being touted as the Italian TVR. Also, Tiff Needell was giving it some welly round some Modena back roads and they sounded awesome. I wonder if they had different wheels and were right hand drive, whether they'd in sell in the UK?
Having had a look at the website, they have some dealers in the states and Italy, and thats it.
What do other people think?
>> Edited by Dodgey_Rog on Thursday 9th March 14:41
Am i right in thinking that this lot were bought out by MG Rover some years back so they could produce the MG SV?? So then they couldn't produce a right hand drive version for the UK? I remember seeing this car at the Motorshow being touted as the Italian TVR. Also, Tiff Needell was giving it some welly round some Modena back roads and they sounded awesome. I wonder if they had different wheels and were right hand drive, whether they'd in sell in the UK?
Having had a look at the website, they have some dealers in the states and Italy, and thats it.
What do other people think?
>> Edited by Dodgey_Rog on Thursday 9th March 14:41
Dodgey_Rog said:I'm not a VP of a car company but I'm sure that to make a car sell is not simply a case of swapping the wheels
if they had different wheels and were right hand drive, whether they'd in sell in the UK?
p.s. this is knocking on a 10 year old design now... I'm sure I saw it back in 1995/6 richb said:
if they had different wheels and were right hand drive, whether they'd in sell in the UK?
ok then, maybe it does need some cosmetic changes and some bigger wheels, other than that, it could be a cracker!!
Dodgey_Rog said:Must confess I thought that when I first saw it, in fact I thought MG ruined it...
if they had different wheels and were right hand drive, whether they'd in sell in the UK?
ok then, maybe it does need some cosmetic changes and some bigger wheels, other than that, it could be a cracker!!
richb said:
Must confess I thought that when I first saw it, in fact I thought MG ruined it...
Yeah, agree, even the first draft when it was this smooth looking car, then to see this ugly Halfords special was very disappointing. It wouldn't take much i don't think for a minor bit of re-styling and by the looks of things from the factory build pictures, it might be an easy(ish) conversion to right hand drive.
I'm going to the states next week, think i might make some enquiries...................
I think the company was fully absorbed into MG Sport & Racing to produce the SV, so no longer exists. Even if a shell does (Kjell? Ged it?) then I am sure they sold the IP to MGR. Certainly the website hasn't been touched since 2001.
I remember seeing this at the British Motor Show and I loved it. If you remember this originally started life as a De Tomaso Mangusta before Qvale and Alejandro had a big falling out.
All a great shame, as this with a De Tomaso badge and sold alongside the Guara would have made for an interesting car company, hopefully selling enough to go on and develop something even more exciting (comtemporary Pantera perhaps?).
If I recall part of the De Tomaso/Qvale split meant that Qvale had rights to sell cars in some countries, De Tomaso in others but they couldn't sell (different) cars in the same territories. Goes some way to explain why neither survived.
Oh, there is 2 Mangustas for sale in the MG S&R auction, including the only ever RHD manual!
www.wyleshardy.com/SearchsalesCatalogue.asp?AuctionId_in=29&Search=1&SearchText=mangusta
hendry said:
Oh, there is 2 Mangustas for sale in the MG S&R auction, including the only ever RHD manual!
www.wyleshardy.com/SearchsalesCatalogue.asp?AuctionId_in=29&Search=1&SearchText=mangusta
i'll watch that with interest, definately worth considering i feel.
thanks for the pointer.
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