MG/Rover dying.

[Dinner]

The rump remains of what was once the world's fourth largest automaker shuttered it's last factory today. Britain MG/Rover Group, that nations last domestically owned volume car maker, has been unable to pay its bills and is asking the government to bail it out. The company had been hoping to find a foreign buyer but with a failed merger with BMW behind it and a series of failed talks with various Asian automakers things are not looking good for MG/Rover.

Back in 1994 the company was bought by BMW and its future looked secure, however, BMW ran into its own troubles and had difficulty coming up with the money to design new models at Rover. Thus the Germans broke the company up spinning off the MG & Rover brands, selling the Land Rover brand to Ford, and keeping the Mini brand for itself. Experts are saying that doomed MG/Rover by removing its two most profitable brands and losing its US dealership network. The management of MG/Rover is holding out hope for a last minute merger with China's #1 automaker Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corp (SAIC) but reportedly the Chinese are loath to buy out the lose making car company unless the British government kicks in generous subsidies. Alternatively, the mass car brand Rover could be allowed to die while the sports car brand MG could survive as a boutique maker.

What is for sure is that currently MG/Rover's 6,000 strong work force in the English midlands has been furlowed without pay. This is looking like the final chapter in the saga of British owned car makers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4420507.stm

[Starchild]

I'm not sure how much subsidies we could provide given EU law in that area....

[VetLegion]

EU Law doesn't seem to stop Italians whenever FIAT is in trouble.

British gave up on automaking long ago.

[VetLegion]

I mean, the government gave up on supporting a national company. There are still a bunch of car factories in UK that make cars for foreign brands and it's still British autoindustry, but ... you know what I mean.

Can anyone seriously imagine FIAT or Renault going under? No. The opposite in Britain, for some reason strong national auto brand is not considered as strategic interest (as it is in other countries).

[VetLegion]

Automobile industry -> jobs + keeping up the tech -> keeping up the manufacturing capacity -> tanks?

What are crazy Englishmen thinking? The channel canal is open and it's a matter of time before advanced Leclercs and Leopards storm over(under), only to be met by Challengers three generations behind

[Atahualpa]

I liked the design of the Rover 75.

[child of Thor]

we are not manufacturer's these days it seems - just mass consumers of cheaper foreign imports

I've had two british made cars(a Talbot 'Rancho' and an old style mini). Both had a cheap and chearfull feel to them, not much of a quality finish etc. Still they were fun, the mini really was nice to drive(like a go-cart).
But apart from some classic sports cars, i don't think we were very good at making cars, especially in the modern era.

Still its pretty sad and the long term loss of skills is worrying

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by VetLegion
Automobile industry -> jobs + keeping up the tech -> keeping up the manufacturing capacity -> tanks?

What are crazy Englishmen thinking? The channel canal is open and it's a matter of time before advanced Leclercs and Leopards storm over(under), only to be met by Challengers three generations behind

British Navy is and was the centre of homeland defence. Go Cunard!

[pchang]

The British Navy never really recovered from the Prince of Wales

[Dauphin]

He has that effect on most people.

[child of Thor]

http://www.simcatalbotclub.org/rancho.htm

Now i could be wrong, but it seems that the origonal company that made this beast wasn't british, but i think Talbot was a uk car company?

Anyway it had its charms, and a whole bunch of flaws

[Dis]

I still remember a guy was offerring to sell me his Jaguar. I knew these cars had a bad history of expensive maintenance. I turned him down.

But you guys still make Jaguar cars, right?

[pchang]

Jaguar is now owned by Ford

[Dinner]

Vauxhall is owned by GM
Jaguar is owned by Ford
MG British owned but going under (maybe)
Rover British owned but going under (likely)
Land Rover owned by Ford
Mini owned by BMW
Rolls Royce owned by BMW
Lotus owned by Proton of Malaysia
TVR bought by some Russian guy
Bentley owned by VW

There are a few British owned small sports car companies but they don't amount to much though the Japanese (Honda, Toyota, Nissan, etc...) have numerous auto factories in the UK which make some mighty fine automobiles.

[Dinner]

I've just always like British cars for some reason. When I was growing up my father always seemed to have some British sports car in the garage as his toy. Invariably it would always be in some degree of disrepair but when you could get them working they were a lot of fun. I can recall over the years he owned a Sunbeam Alpine, two MGBs (one rubber bumpered and one steel bumpered), a TR6, and a Lotus Elane (1960's vintage). He let me drive the Lotus on Prom night.