MG Rover

[wills]

I feel sorry for thr 6000 workers who will be become the unemployed!

never invest in a British comp. not because the guys arnt good but otherwise!

spare cash invest in shell or high street banks (HSBC) cannot go wrong

[flotsam]

BMW were the main Nail in the Coffin........

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It isn't right to blame the Germans.

BMW gave Rover workers a job-for-life contract and ploughed literally billions into Rover but Rover workers delivered nothing back and almost bankrupted BMW.

Even when they ditched Rover, they gave them a £500m loan and they're still underwriting Rover pensions.

Phoenix on the other hand have more sense and asset stripped and I would have done the same. BAe got shot of them as soon as they turned a profit in 1994.

As for giving Rover support. Why can't we buy a world class car from what in the 1970s was the third largest car maker in the world. They're a bunch of parasites who have leeched off the taxpayer, Honda, BMW and are now accepting charity from SAIC who bought their 20+ year old K-series engine. They've already had their NI paid for them and their VAT deferred. If they can't be bothered to help themselves then why should anyone else? The last thing we want is this bunch of worthless parasites back in the public sector.

Stop giving handouts to Rover and instead give tax-breaks to Dyson to entice him back to the UK.

[flotsam]

A great shame for the British Motor Industry. I feel for the people who work there that now have an uncertain future.

The directors nearly pulled off a great deal, but why have the Chineese been so slow?

Now watch the 'cherry pickers' move in.

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The Chinese are deliberately stalling so that they can get the best deal - cherry picking. All they are interested in is the technology.

China also have their own auto industry problems; their yards are full of locally assembled VW's and Dodges they can't shift for love nor money.

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Oh give over!

Rover have had billions from BMW and produced diddly in terms of new cars. IT'S THEIR OWN FAULT. The newest is the 75 which is 7 years old the rest hark back to the Honda days. The V8 in the MG, Land Rovers and SD1 were of a GM design which the BL MD spotted rusting on a rubbish tip.

To compete you have to invest billions these days. No one in the UK is willing to do that. GM in the US too can't compete and now only makes profits on finance. Dyson couldn't get financing for his Hoover until he went to Japan. Now Labour have caused him to close down UK manufacturing and move to Malaysia.

The purchase of the K-series engine by SAIC is nothing less than charity. The design is ancient; over 20 years old.

As for the falling VW sales in China, they're VW cars not Chinese cars. The Chinese are reining back on car purchases and it's a problem for VW not SAIC.

Rover have already had a Malaysian company and another Chinese company turn them down. THEY HAVE B*GGER ALL in terms of technology. They're not stalling. NOBODY WANTS THEM!

They're a dog. They've been a dog since Wilson nationalised them in 1975. Their best hope was when the Tories re-privatised them with Honda offering technology. THEN they made a profit.

Now the stupid workers are blaming the management instead of the unions and themselves. £12m is a drop in the ocean compared to the billions which BMW gave them. They don't deserve sympathy. They can't even be bothered to look after their own futures. They deserve a swift kick up the back side.

[Scorpion]

They deserve a swift kick up the back side.

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As do the management,after buying Rover for £10 they paid themselves a total of £40 million over the coming years,insted of ploughing it back into the co.

And what co would want to take on Rover with a £400 million "black hole",its been said b4 but, they should of ditched the Rover brand and concentrated on "MG" and made an exclusive mark from it.

[newport]

Business is about sales and profit, Rover and many other companys are not able to do that, so they are gone its as simple as that.

If my business made no profit I would be gone too.

We drive a Lexus not a Rover we all know why.

[Monster-Mat]

there appers to be a lot of misinformed people around.

and a lot of assumption....shame really

[Scorpion]

Enlighten us all then. :)

[Bob King]

Well yesterdays news, is todays history! been watching with interest about Rover on the news, and i've been thinking in another direction...the RoverCity is a rebadged Tata car from India , i wonder how things look for them now, i'm sure they thought Rover was going to buy big number of their car , but Top gear and the motoring press put a stop to that...and rightly so ,shocking car, about as out of date as the rest of the Rover range .

Next thought, whats going to become of MG/ Rover dealers , What if you bought a Rover 75 last week for £15k, whats it worth this week or next week !!, I can see all used Rover prices taking a major tumble over the coming months, and what about spares, Pattern parts are ok for the long team , but parts for nearly new car and ever warrenty work could be a major problem.

This could be a very good time to buy a used Rover, most popular cars over 3-4 years ,can be maintained my your local Halford or fast fit centre, but if Rover parts supplier dry up, that means , no electrical items..ECU's, engine electrics ,wiper and window motors, body panels and trim will also dry up.

It is a sad day for Rover, but if you don't invest and sell a product that people what, your going to sink ... and fast ;) .

[Scorpion]

I think the best thing to do if your unfortunate enough to have bought one is to head for the nearest cliff.

[Mr Morse]

Business is about sales and profit, Rover and many other companys are not able to do that, so they are gone its as simple as that.

If my business made no profit I would be gone too.

We drive a Lexus not a Rover we all know why.

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Well said!

Running a business is all about the bottom line. If you can't return a profit to the investors you are out of business.

BTW, Nissan have recently announced that they are pulling out of the commodity market and will only build more esoteric and profitable models such as the 350Z and new SUV.

[Fidgits]

UNGRATEFUL :tsktsk:

Just listening to the radio - and hearing how the goverment is spending £6.5million of tax payers money to pay the MG Rover workers wages for another week...

and they cut in a quote from a worker

"What good does one week do us - they might as well have sent us home"

Well if you dont :tsktsk: want the money - give it back so the goverment can spend it in a hosptial or something!

[newport]

Did I hear it right on tv this morning, Rovers been loseing 20 million pounds a month :shutit: :shutit: cant blame the chinese doing a runner anyone would.

[Kazi]

If im honest, Rover have a bad rep because they make shoddy cars. The build quality is very poor. Yes, us Brits do very little to support any UK company, but you can't blame us for their demise.

Pure and simple, Rover have been in trouble for years and its because the cars they make are crap. They have had no direction in business for the past decade. They were lucky that BMW saved their bacon last time and look at the dmage they inflicted on BMW.

Rovers bad marketing, ugly cars, lack of direction all assisted in them going into liquidation. Rover will live on again at some point I think. A tarnished car brand is better than no brand at all and Rover do have a small but loyal customer base.

[flotsam]

If im honest, Rover have a bad rep because they make shoddy cars.

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When Lotus wanted to attack the US market with the Elise, they had to buy a Toyota engine from the latest Celica. We simply cannot compete on research expenditure.

On Fifth Gear recently VBH drove an Aston and a drive belt kept on coming off. Then they wanted to mod a Lotus for a 200mph attempt and they said before hand that the gearboxes were weak and the thing broke down 5 miles after they bought it. Then today Jason Plato and VBH were testing two TVRs and they showed all the bits that came off or the carpet that came unstuck.

Nissan, Toyota and Honda in the UK do fine! It could be design for manufacture, it could be bad management and quality controls or it could be bone-idleness in combination with all the above, but there's something definitely wrong!

[Steve ( West Mids )]

Just announced - MG Rover are not going to honour warranties - really bad news for owners .......

[mudzs]

Just announced - MG Rover are not going to honour warranties - really bad news for owners .......

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there will be some very peeved car dealers around stuck with hell of a lot of unsellable rovers .probaly a good time to buy a used 1 year old one as you would get it for peanuts .

[flotsam]

The Times reported that SAIC thought they had the rights to the Rover brand, but that's still owned by BMW.

The Independent reports that SAIC "played the perfect hand", but I think they've been ripped off on the brand name and can't do anything about it because the company's gone to the wall so there's no one to sue.

As for the £6.5m "loan" to Rover: Who's going to pay it back? The EU is complaingin because the loan has not been OK'd and is illegal state aid. SAIC have said they have no plans to come back to the table, so the loan is clearly only until the election is over and as Patricia Hewitts assistant has said our taxes could be better spent.

[Mr Morse]

Just got worse - The administrators have just announced that warranties will no longer be honoured by MG Rover.

[Bob King]

Well...its not all bad news, parts for the cars will still be avaliable, as they are supplied by components specialists "Caterpillar ", and availability remains unaffected.

Now its seems the new car warranties are under threat, we could see a big drop in Rover /MG used car prices.

A strange twist ,is used car warranties are not affected ,as they are taken our with Car Care Plan, a third party company :)

[Kremmen]

[fergy]

Heard they believe that about £2k of every rover under 2 has just been wiped off the residuals...and that is before the administrators start dumping even cheaper new ones into the market.

Also meant to be 7k plus staff at rover / MG dealers...dont see the government helping out them by paying their wages..

[Monster-Mat]

think i may be looking at MG's when im back in the UK.hm wonder what deals i could get on a tax free one

[legendswraith]

Its quite ironic really i stll remember when i bought my RX-7 and my father declared it "Jap crap" immediately (doesn't say that about the lex though)

Maybe the British should look what the japanese did to our car manufacturing over the past 25-30 years and all by taking simple things and improving on them

To be honest has no one at any of the car plants had the idea to reverse engineer any of the new solid engines being produced.

Right now our industry stands where the japanese once did all that time ago and its all because of apathy

[star a]

shame really, rovers reliabilty had come a long way recently, not as bad as is being implied, the MG ZT came 15th overall in the "2005 driver power survey" , to put that into perspective, IS200 5th, Jaguar XJ 14th, mazda rx-8 16th, BMW 3 series 40th (sniggers), although in fairness, some of the older designed rovers faired quite badly, the worst being the rover 25 85th, but then again, older merecedes a-class 97th.......the dealers left a lot be desired though, rover were 27th, of course lexus were 1st, bmw 4th (wry smile). So there we have it, the reason rover died on it's arse was because it is too far behind market leaders, the days of automotive patriotism are long gone.

[Bob King]

With 20 years of working as a mechanic under my belt, Rover have only made two very good cars in the last 25 years, first was the Triumph Acclaim and the Rover 620, both 95% Honda cars.

Leyland should have stayed with Honda !