Simon ( and inded Andy, Rich et al)
I have a great amout of empathy with the points that you make and I'm quite happy to confess that my view is a fairly uncharitable one.
I think the point that BtG made about SOMEONE having to keep a bit of soul and romance in the performance car world is at the centre of what we all cherish- iconic cars built by people who care about what they do
To a degree, it's not even a money thing with me 'cos Im a mean so and so anyway
What I DO worry about is that MMC ( quite understandably) has moved and continues to move into new areas with new markets and a new client base/profile.These people will have a much more consumerist approach and be less willing to trade- off hard results for unquantifiable things.
Again, I agree that there are people at the Factory who go to great lengths to help customers with problems but this will be of little use if, as may be the case in some instances, many of these 'new owners', experiencing problems with their new EVAs will react fairly drastically and just dump them. The 'factory helpfulness' just won't have the chance to come into play,
It is therefore absolutely vital that, within their abilities (financial and engineering) MMC are as thorough and well thought out as they can be in what they are doing. I'm not convinced that this is happening. There is too much reaction and not enough proaction.
If I'm wrong, then I am happy to be so If I'm not? Then bad reps don't take long to develop but they do take a hell of a time to get rid of.
It's instructive that people - quite rightly- mention cars such as the Noble, the TVR and others. Surely, this is just the trap we don't want MMC to fall into
regards,
G
PS Totally off the subject but of immense personal satisfaction, please note that as I write this the GT2 Class at the 24 Heures Du Mans is being led by Oliver Gavin's C6-R 'Vette. Don't you just LOVE those American Vee8s!!
g
