MG Rover collapse
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Scaff
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WELZ2002
I've driven the majority of the MG Rover model range as part of my job (i'm a training consultant in the motor industry) and with a few exceptions the MG Rover model range is too expensive and too old.
The 25/45/75 and the MG variants are all old products for the market and while the 75 is a competant but ageing product its design is aimed at an older segment of the market who are looking principally for reliability. These customer Rover lost to the likes of Honda, Toyota and Nissan many years ago.
The Cityrover is a joke, I'm sorry but its a poorly built, badly packaged car that is priced far to high to appeal.
The MG TF is a damn good little car that I hope survives, but while it may be good to drive it is not reliable.
The MG Rover group seemed to take no notice of the increasing demand for reliability and high levels of customer service that todays customer demand. MG and Rover products have been at the bottom of the JD Power surveys of the last ten years, these are based on the feedback of actual owners and the experience of owning the cars and using the dealer networks.
MG Rovers own customer have been (through the JD Power surveys) telling them that they needed to improve, its not an industry witch hunt, but feedback that should have been listened too.
I have also in the past carried out mystery shops on MG Rover dealers, and to be honest the level of customer service and assistance that most (not all) offer is downright shocking. Customers will not stand for this, and they will and have voted with their feet.
I know from your first post that you are one of the people who has without a doubt suffered the most in this, and have suffered from many decades of bad choices made by a succesion of owners/operators of the MG Rover group.
I can understand your pride in the products that you made, but as an independent consultant to the industry (i'm not employed by any single manufacturer) the MG Rover product range was too old and overpriced, the dealer network lost you as many customers as it gained and the policy of costcutting during the sourcing of manufacturing components saw the product reliability fall.
I hope that something can come from the remains of the MG Rover saga and do believe that with the right people MG could be saved, Rover however I think is gone for now.
In closing, please do not take what I have said as a critisim of you or your collegues, its an honest assesment of some of the problems that did exist in the MG Rover model range.
However, I still to this day say that outside Lotus, few people know how to tune a chassis as well as MG, the ride and handling balance of the TF is just great.
Oh i thik everyone on the planet knows theyre old and overpriced, but i have to say having a zr at one point which was priced the same as a mini cooper, i think my car was better be honest! it outhandled it and was far better on the straights! At the end of the day , to me mg's are more about performance than anything else! Like you said about the TF, its a great car and nobody believes me when i tell them its actually a reversed metro chassis!
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- GTP_Jondot
ATTENTION!! ATTENTION!!
It has been discovered the REAL reason that MGRover collapsed! Maya Sharma in Coronation street had an MG TF, before she and the car was jammed between a lamppost and a truck. For everyone who is not a soap maniac, Maya Sharma was the evil one in a soap here in britain - coronation street. Infact, she was trying to run two people over, who managed to survive an explosion she had planned for them. When they didn't survive, she drove her TF towards them, missed and hit a wall. About to turn around and try again, she was promptly hit by a truck, and the poor saftey of the tf was realsied.
It has been discovered the REAL reason that MGRover collapsed! Maya Sharma in Coronation street had an MG TF, before she and the car was jammed between a lamppost and a truck. For everyone who is not a soap maniac, Maya Sharma was the evil one in a soap here in britain - coronation street. Infact, she was trying to run two people over, who managed to survive an explosion she had planned for them. When they didn't survive, she drove her TF towards them, missed and hit a wall. About to turn around and try again, she was promptly hit by a truck, and the poor saftey of the tf was realsied.
- 24,002
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Scaff
Which was, in turn, based on the ROVER V8!
- 2,018
Even if it wasn't the most reliable car, the Rover SD1 was still a cool car 
I quite liked the look of the older style Rover 75s/MG versions although the back looks a bit crap at some angles, and I'm not over 60! A bloke near where I used to live had a Rover 3500? 3000? I forget, looked very similar anywho and despite it looking a bit of a shed in an awful metallic green I always liked it.
Its a pity Rover is gone, but it was envitable just the process has been prolonged. Always seemed to me BMW knew exactly what they were doing when they took over Rover, to get the Mini brand (and produce a tank as a replacement
) As people have said you can't keep repackaging 10 year old designs in the modern market.
I quite liked the look of the older style Rover 75s/MG versions although the back looks a bit crap at some angles, and I'm not over 60! A bloke near where I used to live had a Rover 3500? 3000? I forget, looked very similar anywho and despite it looking a bit of a shed in an awful metallic green I always liked it.Its a pity Rover is gone, but it was envitable just the process has been prolonged. Always seemed to me BMW knew exactly what they were doing when they took over Rover, to get the Mini brand (and produce a tank as a replacement
) As people have said you can't keep repackaging 10 year old designs in the modern market.
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G.T
Guilty, as charged
.Has anyone noticed that there are going to be HUGE problems with recalls?
Auto express reported this week that cityrovers are coming up for a recall. With rover in administration, people will have to pay for their own repairs. Trouble is, people recon that many people won't pay for their repairs, and many of the cars will remain with problems, sometimes major problems, deeming them unsafe.
- 20
I've driven an MGB (don't know what year) on a dirt road. It was fun, only got up to 45 though. Still, this is sad because I love MG's, they're styling has always been awesome. ANd now they might get bought by a chinese company? SHEESH.
Scaff
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New twist in the MG Rover saga.
TVR owner, Nikolai Smolensky, has put in a bid for the company to MG Rover's adminstrators (Price Waterhouse Cooper). Apparently this bid is completley seperate from TVR (i.e. this would not be TVR taking ownership of MGR), but a bid from Nikolai Smolensky himself.
You can find further details at the Pistonheads site here, looks like this guy may be trying to save the British car industry all by himself.
TVR owner, Nikolai Smolensky, has put in a bid for the company to MG Rover's adminstrators (Price Waterhouse Cooper). Apparently this bid is completley seperate from TVR (i.e. this would not be TVR taking ownership of MGR), but a bid from Nikolai Smolensky himself.
You can find further details at the Pistonheads site here, looks like this guy may be trying to save the British car industry all by himself.
Scaff
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GTRacer4
You don't seem to have quite got a grasp on the MGR situation.
When BMW bought (and sold) MG Rover it was a going concern, and as such debts were transfered with the ownership of the company. However, MG Rover are now in administration (in laymans terms they went bust) and as such any prospective new owner must be able to provide a business plan to the adminstrators (to show that the compnay will not be in the same situation a few years from now and that they are not just planning to strip the assets) and any sum that they pay for the company will be used to pay off as many of MG Rovers creditors as possiable.
The new owner (whoever they may be) will not be liable for any of MG Rover's current or past debts.
TVRKing
You are quite right, the bid is just for the MG side of the business.
The bit about TVR moving to Longbridge is just rumour, its unlikely to happen. The following is from an earlier story aboutte bid (again from Pistonheads)
"Smolensky has spoken of the need to move out of the present factory, where TVR has been for most of its history, but his last statement on the issue suggested that the company would be staying in Blackpool. Moving would of course mean that a new workforce -- presuming that most would be unlikely to swap Lancashire for Birmingham -- would need to be trained in using GRP and in the very hands-on process that TVR has always used to build its cars. It's very unlike the automated, tooled-up factory in Longbridge."
The full article is here. Now while TVR officially refuse to confirm or deny this at present, given the companies history and the skilled workforce they have at Blackpool (who may well be reluctant to move to Birmingham) I find it quite unlikely.
Personally I think if his bid for MG goes ahead then they will be run as two different companies who share some componants, but as they say, only time will tell.
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Since I (unfortunately) don't live in the UK I don't feel I can really comment on the whole thing but to say...too bad WE in America didn't get any of these cars. You guys may hate them but I rather find a couple of them cool cars. The ZT is definately a car I'd drive. Maybe now they can be cheap enough to import. 
Since most of the car companies rebadge other cars in most of the world it wouldn't be all bad if they imported thier cars and were badged something else. Even though the cars may be rubbish in the opinions of people in Europe the MG name should live on...at least I would hope it would. I hate to see car companies in general go under. Just my thoughts on the whole thing.
Since most of the car companies rebadge other cars in most of the world it wouldn't be all bad if they imported thier cars and were badged something else. Even though the cars may be rubbish in the opinions of people in Europe the MG name should live on...at least I would hope it would. I hate to see car companies in general go under. Just my thoughts on the whole thing.
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Sniffs*laughs* you should.
poor rover ended up dying using Honda clones
btw...who sent the damn Honda clone Sterlings over here? you guys forgot to pop everything over to the american side of the car
Rover were actually making a small profit while Honda was in charge. It **** really hit the fan when BMW took over and stopped production of their best sellers.
