According to the author of an Automobile.com story, BMW has categorically said no to bringing back the Triumph marque.
“Yet when I asked the company’s new North American chief, Ludwig Willisch, whether BMW might bring back Triumph from the noble corpses left over from the Rover debacle, he told me categorically nein, despite the fact that the British press recently reported the trademark’s renewal by BMW. He explained that Triumph, which closed its American doors in 1981, was too old to resonate with anyone but those forty or older (as if somehow BMW M6 convertible buyers weren’t primarily senior statesmen). He insisted that a Triumph roadster based on BMW’s existing Z4 would cannibalize sales of the latter (not much to cannibalize, I’d have thought) and that a Triumph Spitfire based on a Mini platform, but completely restyled, wouldn’t make sense. Another prospective failure would be my idea of offering BMW’s upcoming 1-series front-drivers in Triumph guise.
It was then that I offered to take Triumph off of BMW’s hands. Willisch politely declined, but if you care to join me, perhaps we could go halfsies.”
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