Comments on: Encore Maestro!

By: Greg Locock

Greg Locock — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:03:08 +0000

Maestro was a very good car to drive round corners and across country roads, had a lot of interior room for its size, and good fuel consumption.

A far more intelligent car than most 1980s cars.

By: threeer

threeer — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:14:08 +0000

Spent some time in South Africa a few years ago…my counterpart had a “new” City Golf…it was kinda cool riding around in a one year old Golf with updated dashboard, A/C and power windows!

By: bumpy ii

bumpy ii — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:54:19 +0000

IIRC, production of the Mexican Nissan Tsuru (aka B13 Sentra) finally wrapped up within the past year. If it weren’t for the stupid import restrictions, I’d be willing to buy one.

It would be nice if someone could set up a factory to start cranking out R32 Skylines again.

By: Stingray

Stingray — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:36:43 +0000

@AG

They don’t make Paykan anymore… but they make Bardo Pickup, which is the same platform. Also I think it’s alive under the Peugeot ROA… you can go to IKCO site.

http://www.ikco.com/default.aspx

What they do now is Samand, which is based on P-405 platform. They’re also launching the 2nd national car with EF7 engine which is an iranian development.

Saipa in Iran also builds the Kia Pride under its own brand. Kia Pride = Mazda 121 = Ford Festiva

I’d take some Chrysler and Isuzu vars and set up a factory to sell to 3rd world countries. Also some old GM platforms wouldn’t hurt. MKIII Golf, and some others. I’d really love to make such kind of project a reality.

About the manual welding… even über robotized factories have some weldings/body creases filling made by human operators… not really a big deal.

By: Justin Berkowitz

Justin Berkowitz — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:09:19 +0000

Vega :

The Golf 1 has not been out of production in Germany since 2003, but since 1983!

Damn typos! Thanks for the heads up on that; corrected now.

By: John Horner

John Horner — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:04:25 +0000

Interesting article. It makes you wonder who is subsidizing that factory. All that factory space and material in place, yet they make 100 cars per year?

By: Vega

Vega — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:48:39 +0000

The Golf 1 has not been out of production in Germany since 2003, but since 1983!

By: AG

AG — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:40:42 +0000

Oh snap! An Iran Khodro reference! At least they’re not making Hillman Hunters anymore!

By: allythom

allythom — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:38:40 +0000

For a very brief period (1991), right at the end of its UK lifecycle, the MG Maestro 2.0 EFI was seriously considered a worthy competitor to to the Golf GTI. Though it never had the reliability or longevity.

By: commando1

commando1 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:52:23 +0000

I hope they don’t have their sights set on the 91-96 Caprices. I still have high hopes for that resurrection…

By: Stu Sidoti

Stu Sidoti — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:51:30 +0000

Good article, neat subject…I especially liked the picture of the fellow welding the hatch area of the Forester knockoff while loosely holding his welding helmet. I wouldn’t count on great body tolerances if they’re hand-welding these cars together.