[OT] Rover closes

Hi,

Slightly OT, but I wanna know :
Coming back from work, listening to the radio while driving, and heard
Rover's closing out. The Birmingham plant should close, and although I am
not a Rover ham (I guess you all know it), what do you, brits, think about
that ?

 

Inevitable, and a shame, I guess, though I'd rather see it die than keep on
lagging behind. Seems the Chinese were quite clever: they got what they
wanted (engine, two models, intellectual rights etc.) on the promise of
buying the whole thing, then ducked out at the last minute. The consortium
who bought Rover, feathered their own nests from day one, and then did
little or nothing to move the business forward (buying the Qvale Mangusta
was a silly diversion that wasted a few million) were pretty clever too.

I would imagine somebody will want MG though, if only for the name. It
wouldn't be for the cars.

Perhaps Peugeot should buy MG and use the name for sports cars and big
saloons.

Or not.

Androo

 

Hi,

on
Well, not that aware of all these old stories, has it really survived the
disaster of British Leyland ?
And perhaps it will live once again, like did Triumph once NVT "died".

Well, Rover stopped doing some cars for ages, just putting a bodykit on a
platform (for example the 620, and some other models in the past, copies of
the Civic).

That's what I tend to think, too.
Anyway, all rentable areas of Rover were dismantled in the past, IIRC Ford
had Rover for some time, and finally kept Land Rover (I may be wrong here),
and so did BMW with Mini.

I guess they won't, 'cause they could have done it since 1978/1980 when they
took control over Talbot. And Peugeot also has a past of great cars, luxious
and / or sporty. All coupes, 60x series, for example.

 

I don't like Rovers and am glad of the closure, maybe not so for the loss of
jobs but thats life.

 

It's the workers I feel sorry for. The four owners are walking away with
millions (16M between them was one figure I heard) whereas the poor bloody
workers get £208 per year of service. I couldn't give a monkeys about the
marque TBH, there are too many cars around now anyway and too many
manufacturers. British Leyland did for Rover and IMO it faced an uphill
struggle since those days.

 

British Leyland did for Rover and IMO it faced an uphill

There hasn't been a Rover since the 1960's, and the last MG was the TD model
of about 1953 to the best of my knowledge.
Tesco sell tins of baked beans, but it doesn't mean they're Heinz. Sticking
what's perceived to be a good badge on a bad product doesn't make it good.
I suggested the other day that this closure wasn't before time after fifty
years of millions of pounds of British taxpayers money had been poured into
the bottomless pit of BMC, BL, BA, Phoenix (whatever). Now I read that it's
actually billions.
If the politicians had any bottle when Red Robbo was rampaging in the 1970's
they'd have pulled the plug on it then.
(Incidentally, I'm old enough to remember the Leader of the House being
quite newsworthy around that time).
Wolseley, Morris, Standard, Triumph, Humber, Hillman, Lanchester, Singer,
Austin and the rest were'nt viable in 1955, so the powers that be made them
a big uncontrollable hulk- all vying with each other to produce mediocrity
(apart from the mini), whilst the developing world using modern
machinery,started producing stuff that customers wanted.
DaveK.

 

There hasn't been a Rover since the 1960's, and the last MG was the TD
model

Well, the MGF/TF may not come out of 'Morris Garages', but it is a unique
model, not based on a bought in platform. And I'd argue that the 75 is a
proper Rover too, no matter where the money, or the rear suspension came
from!

Two classic cars of the future, I'd say.

Androo

 

Remember the Metro ? Interestingly enough, the MGF is actually a pair of
Metro front-subframes, fastened back-to-back.
But you're right, it is a "Genuine Rover"

 

I feel *very* sorry for the 6,000 workers at Longbridge, plus the 17,000
workers at Rover's suppliers (though obviously most of these won't be losing
their jobs), and the many more thousands who work in Rover's dealer network.

I'm not too bothered about Rover themselves - the 75 V8 is the only car they
make, that I'd consider owning. The SV would be right up there with it, if
it was half the price.
I do like the rest of the MG ZT range, but they're all underpowered for me.
And I suppose I see why people like the MGF, even though it's not for me.

The 25/ZR and 45/ZS are pretty dire - nobody will miss a pair of dodgy old
90s Hondas !

I aren't quite sure why people are bemoaning the loss of the K-Series to the
Chinese - it doesn't offer anything over the rest of today's engines.

 

Shame about all the job losses,but of course papers like the Mail and
Express will try to pin the blame on Tony Blair as they do with every
other negative thing which happens in this country.

 

Yes, I knew that, and of course it used Hydragas suspension when it was the
MGF, but even so, being mid engined could be considered sufficiently
different from the Metro. Certainly got a better crash test result, no doubt
because of the lack of an engine up front.

Androo

 

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

I guess that, IMO, British Leyland did nothing good for british automotive
industry, do you think I'm right in assuming that ?
Another point, 'cause I'm in doubt (but this won't stop me from sleeping
tonight), B-L was a public holding for british automotive brands, but was it
owned by the government ?

 

Hi,

Huh, a list of names I forgot

them
Well, TBH I don't know the windings of british economics, but a bankrupt
(spelling) as knew almost all UK's automotive manufacturers is a sign of a
problem.

Well, that's a principle of evolution : either you adapt, else you
disappear. True with life and economy, IMO. The fact that the government
helped these companies with (many) money just lubricates a rusty mechanism,
it doesn't "repair" it (I hope you see what I mean here).
Also in France the government owned Renault totally from 1945 to 1992 or
1993 (not sure about the exact date), do you remember the loads of crap they
released ? I could write the same with Thomson, perhaps they developped
up-to-date, efficient military devices like radars, but the "public"
division (Thomson Consumer Electronics) made many crappy tellies. I tend to
think that a public firm isn't efficient enough, just 'cause they don't
really care about money, as they can lose £10M a year.

Oh, BTW, when you think about that, Rover isn't the last automotive
manufacturer, Vauxhall is still there
Ok, not fun, VH are just Opels with a different front grille - at least we
can state it isn't "hidden".

 

The MG name is still owned by BMW.

 

There was nothing the Government could do about poor old Rover. They tried
to drag out the company's existence until after the general election for
P.R reasons but Rover has been draining money from British Taxpayers for a
long time now. It should have closed down long ago.

The thousands of job losses will be disasterous for the families involved &
many companies that supplied Rover will face huge job cuts too. I live
fairly close to Longbridge & wonder what effect all this will have on the
local economy.

JG

 

I thought they only owned the Rover brand?

 

I agree,
I feel saddened at the loss of so many jobs and the effect it will have on
the local economy, I am also equally saddened that another great motoring
legend has finally sadly gone,
Fitzy