MG Rover is going into administration. After 101 years of car making the company is closing with the loss of thousands of jobs.

The company had been in talks with a Chinese car makers but it started to fall apart when further details about MG Rover's finances came to light.

Not good news for Labour in the early days of an election campaign. Can the Government be blamed for the closure of a private company?

Being a brummy emigree, I have been through years of "will they, won't they" scenarios with Rover. It's a shame, end of an era and all that, but let's face it, they have been fighting a losing battle for years. IMHO, they make/made very uninspiring cars (apart from the mini) and, unfortunately for them, will not be missed.

I think being overtaken by a chinese car company would only have proved to be another insurmountable hurdle and another indignity it could not handle.

That serious enough for you Haydon?

Right, get the beers in.

So that's it now? We no longer make cars in the UK that are British - in fact, what the hell do we make in the UK these days?

SHEDS!

Oh right, I forgot about them, oooh, and kennels, we're good(ish) at them too! :blush:

Oh poor souls:sad:

I had to handle the redundancies when Daewoo went bust and I think quite a few of the guys went to work at Rover. Not a happy time as there are very few automotive jobs left now.

The UK do still make cars, but they tend to be select and low volume. Nothing like Rover, thank goodness in many ways. They never really recovered from the disaster that was BL and another handout would only have prolonged the agony before they rolled over and died.

Shame really as I've got a Rover and it's rather nice.

So that's it now? We no longer make cars in the UK that are British - in fact, what the hell do we make in the UK these days?
Caterham (http://www.caterham.co.uk/)
http://www.caterham.co.uk/images/showroom/detail/csr_03.jpg
Caterham CSR 260
£36,500
0-60mph in 3.1 seconds
(a Ferrari ten times the price would get left behind)

Morgan (http://www.morgan-motor.co.uk/)
http://ellis.dyndns.biz/media/images/so/morgan_plus8.jpg
Morgan Plus 8 - modern British sportscar with classic looks

Aston Martin (http://www.astonmartin.com/)
http://ellis.dyndns.biz/media/images/so/AstonMartin_DB9.jpg
I'm thinking that possibly this one speaks for itself...

TVR (http://www.tvr-eng.co.uk)
http://ellis.dyndns.biz/media/images/so/TVR_Tuscan_MK2.jpg
Tuscan MK2

Lotus (http://www.grouplotus.com/car/)
http://ellis.dyndns.biz/media/images/so/Lotus_Elise_111S.jpg
Lotus Elise 111S

We still have one or two British cars to be proud of...

This is very sad for British car manufacturers, and going back to Haydon's question about the 'blame' and where it will land? I don't know - I amnot sure whether the gov will be blamed for it's immediate closure - although I suspect that it will be blamed for the lack of support it has given MG Rover over the last few years!

This hasn't happened overnight, lets face it! The gov. will have been well aware years ago what was happening to the British Motor industry.

So actually YES let's hope that it does the election campaign of the Labour party major damage.

And Blinky cor blimey mate - they are fabulous cars [don't like the first one the Caterham?] - but I have always adored Morgans - my firned Sandy has 2, and she has elbow problems and can't manage and is selling one of them!! I know I have no money - but yee gads I would love one. But isn't the Morgan an MG?? [part of MG Rover?] - see how much I kow about cars - not!

I was wondering this morning - if a rich astute person bought a Rover car - and kept it in pristine condition, under wraps for 30 or 50 years - whether it would be worth a fortune in years to come??

How much is the Aston Martin please, mr Blink, sir?

One hundred and twenty grand or thereabouts. Sorry.

They should have made a descant car then they would still have a job

Being a brummy emigree, I have been through years of "will they, won't they" scenarios with Rover. It's a shame, end of an era and all that, but let's face it, they have been fighting a losing battle for years. IMHO, they make/made very uninspiring cars (apart from the mini) and, unfortunately for them, will not be missed.



When it was on the news last night, I said pretty much the same thing Patsy, coming from Leamington Spa, I know loads of people that work at Rover, and for years I have been hearing from worried friends that their jobs may not be secure....... In fact, I would say that for the last 20 years while watching Central News, it wasnt uncommon for Rover to be headline news about loss of jobs.......

Did I hear right this morning that Rover were after a HUNDRED MILLION from the Government??? That seems mighty steep to me, I suppose if I had bothered to read more about it I would be more knowledgeable, but to need that sort of money to keep a business afloat tells me that things have been badly managed, and for some time......but as I say, I dont know the "ins and outs"..... :blush:

I have just heard on the news that MG Rover have announced that they are bringing in Administrators........

The last nail in there coffin was selling Land rover to BMW

It was the only bit they made any money

The last nail in there coffin was selling Land rover to BMW

It was the only bit they made any money



Picture it - Flip with a very confused face??

Honest hun, I am completely ignorant of who owns who nowadays - but did MG Rover own Land Rover, or do they??

I only extend a question cos Land Rover is my favoured mode of transport.

Blink, Aston Martin is part of the Ford Motor Company (American); Lotus is owned by Proton (Malaysia) and the new Caterham engine is being developed by Powertrain Ltd - part of MG Rover. Caterham are currently in close discussions with MG Rover.

The new Morgans have Ford powertrain; older models have Rover. TVR however now power their own vehicles, so from the above, they are the only 100% British cars.

:bored:

I was quite impressed to see that Tony and Gordon had dashed up there today to try and help out.


Then I realised how close it was to the election :wallbash:

Can the Government be blamed for the closure of a private company?

Yes, the Labour Government can be blamed, but the ones from the 60s and 70s who allowed the unions to run British manufacturing industry into the ground.

Tony's cronies are only guilty of doing nothing for this country except turning up for the photo opportunities.

The best totally British car I ever owned was a Jensen, they were something else to drive - or carve up the roads on like what I did! :blush:

I really think that this is the end for Rover.
Whatever Tony does, we all know it's electioneering.
I worked there for eleven years, so i do know a little of what goes on.
Phoenix 'bought' it last time for £10.00.
*All four of that consortium must have donated £1.25 by my reckoning?*
They each bow out with roughly 50 million.
But they tried right?
So did the Japanese, and the Germans.
Is there anything 'British' left?
Total shutdown will decimate the West Midlands economy, believe me.
I'm kind of glad I took my redundancy, and my pension out of there while I could.
But I know how hard it will be to try and acclimatise those workers into not working at Rover.
People will suffer, the redundancy payments suggested are ridiculous.
There are many reasons for it to come to this, but the main one is apathy.
By the management, the government, and the workers.
And yes some of you too!!
Buy British, keep British people in work.

I really think that this is the end for Rover.
Whatever Tony does, we all know it's electioneering.
I worked there for eleven years, so i do know a little of what goes on.
Phoenix 'bought' it last time for £10.00.
*All four of that consortium must have donated £1.25 by my reckoning?*
They each bow out with roughly 50 million.
But they tried right?
So did the Japanese, and the Germans.
Is there anything 'British' left?
Total shutdown will decimate the West Midlands economy, believe me.
I'm kind of glad I took my redundancy, and my pension out of there while I could.
But I know how hard it will be to try and acclimatise those workers into not working at Rover.
People will suffer, the redundancy payments suggested are ridiculous.
There are many reasons for it to come to this, but the main one is apathy.
By the management, the government, and the workers.
And yes some of you too!!
Buy British, keep British people in work.

I agree with the last bit Buy British.

And the first bit - I could have afforded a tenner on a car company.

But I have to say the middle bit was way past my comprehension - si cos I is a girl??

I really think that this is the end for Rover.
Whatever Tony does, we all know it's electioneering.
I worked there for eleven years, so i do know a little of what goes on.
Phoenix 'bought' it last time for £10.00.
*All four of that consortium must have donated £1.25 by my reckoning?*
They each bow out with roughly 50 million.
But they tried right?
So did the Japanese, and the Germans.
Is there anything 'British' left?
Total shutdown will decimate the West Midlands economy, believe me.
I'm kind of glad I took my redundancy, and my pension out of there while I could.
But I know how hard it will be to try and acclimatise those workers into not working at Rover.
People will suffer, the redundancy payments suggested are ridiculous.
There are many reasons for it to come to this, but the main one is apathy.
By the management, the government, and the workers.
And yes some of you too!!
Buy British, keep British people in work.

What did you do there secrets?

I know in essence you are right regarding buying British, and I only ended up with a British make by accident really. It would be lovely to think that the quality was there to entice people to invest in British manufacturing, but the rot set in a long time ago like Groucho said.

I wonder what's going to happen now. The administrators said there were offers they were looking at. Maybe I could stump up a tenner and buy MG Rover!

Does this count as British Blink? Probably find that only the cigarette lighter is made in this country!

http://www.21stcentury.co.uk/images/cars/noble_m12_gto.jpg

Damn, Flip's put in an offer first. OK then I'll up mine to £10.50!

It'll probably be on E Bay tomorrow! :ninja:

What did you do there secrets?
Most things, i was a panel beater by trade, but i sprayed cars too, and rectified, and did 'sick and relief' for any job where someone was absent. I ended up being the first team leader in the paint shop when team leaders were introduced.
It was a horrible position to be in really, the guys that i worked with before didn't think of me as 'one of them' anymore, and the management didn't think of me as 'one of them' either - though they sure didn't mind giving me all their work to do.:rolleyes:

LMAO Censor, it wouldn't surprise me - I've seen stranger things sold on Ebay.

The guys that you left behind Secrets, were they there for the long term and did any of them see this coming, even if not then but later?

Thanks! - I'm ex-automotive as well, so was being nosey!


(PS Noxi - think Noble's powertrain is Ford based lol)

LMAO Censor, it wouldn't surprise me - I've seen stranger things sold on Ebay.

The guys that you left behind Secrets, were they there for the long term and did any of them see this coming, even if not then but later?

It was part of being at Rover Nox, rumours were always there.
But at the end of the day, you clocked in, did your job, and clocked out.
I remember the 'tea break strike' where we had twelve weeks out for the sake of losing a 15 minute tea break.
As a man with a mortgage and children, the £12.00 i got off the union that supported that strike meant very little.
We eventually 'won' and kept our tea break - but had to work 15 minutes extra per day!!!!
I know guys who worked there for 30 years, and when they retired said that it had kept them and their families for all that time - this was /still is true.
We are all slaves to the master.

Blink, Aston Martin is part of the Ford Motor Company (American); Lotus is owned by Proton (Malaysia) and the new Caterham engine is being developed by Powertrain Ltd - part of MG Rover. Caterham are currently in close discussions with MG Rover.

The new Morgans have Ford powertrain; older models have Rover. TVR however now power their own vehicles, so from the above, they are the only 100% British cars.
Shatter my illusions cruelly - don't let me down gently or anything. :(

Mind you, if we're going to be picky, there presumably aren't any cars out there that can claim to be produced exclusively by one country. Most of 'em have Bosch controlled braking systems, for example...

Hmm... Nox, I forgot Noble. Their M14 was the undisputed star of last years Birmingham Motor Show (IMHO):

http://ellis.dyndns.biz/rob/Motorshow/Mags/NobleM14-sm.jpg

(that's a scan from a mag incidentally - the batteries ran out in my camera before I got to this stand - gnash!)

So are you going to shatter my illusions about the following three, Fee?

GTM (http://www.gtmcars.com/)
http://www.gtmcars.com/gallery/CuDyk6sN.jpg
(GTM Libra)

Ariel (http://www.arielmotor.co.uk)
http://www.arielmotor.co.uk/04/side/side.jpg
(Ariel Atom)

Farboud (http://www.farboudsportscars.com/)
http://ellis.dyndns.biz/media/images/so/FarboudGTS.jpg
(Farboud GTS)

Yes, I know they're lower and lower-volume producers...

From todays Telegraph:

As Rover's financial position becomes ever murkier, the fog is clearing from the bizarre and complex structure set up by the Fab Four who "rescued" the carmaker five years ago. Our previous attempts to discover how much they had made while the business continued to fail produced a total of almost £40m, from salaries, payments to enable the poor dears to avoid poverty in old age and the notorious £10m "loan note" from Rover.

It seems we hadn't got halfway to the bottom of the affair. As we had suspected, the four had set out to put tens of millions of pounds-worth of assets beyond Rover's use (as another organisation might have put it). Now, in what might be charitably described as a fit of remorse, the four are offering these assets back again.

They are worth, says ringleader John Towers in his statement, "around £50m" before quickly adding that they might be worth only £10m today. Well, why, John? Because of the almost comically complex structure you and your team erected round them to shield your real gains from prying eyes. We are some distance from the bottom of this affair, and by the time we get there, the Fab Four should have been made to disgorge a great deal more than they are currently offering.

That Ariel Atom, where does the shopping, kids and dogs go?

Even if they reclaim 50 million in assets, how long is that going to keep the plant running?

http://ellis.dyndns.biz/rob/Motorshow/Mags/NobleM14-sm.jpg


GTM (http://www.gtmcars.com/)
http://www.gtmcars.com/gallery/CuDyk6sN.jpg
(GTM Libra)

Ariel (http://www.arielmotor.co.uk)
http://www.arielmotor.co.uk/04/side/side.jpg
(Ariel Atom)

Farboud (http://www.farboudsportscars.com/)
http://ellis.dyndns.biz/media/images/so/FarboudGTS.jpg
(Farboud GTS)




(Ford Powertrain derivative) :bag:

Even if they reclaim 50 million in assets, how long is that going to keep the plant running?

Not really the point Foxy.

The directors who supposedly rescued the company have raped and pillaged Rover of assets and lined their own pockets.

When BMW sold the company for a tenner, they provided a "soft loan" of £500 million that was supposed to cover the cost of closure and redundancies, should it become necessary.

That money and an awful lot more has now gone and Rover owns almost nothing.

The name, the engines, the spare parts and the land the car plant is on are all owned by other companies.

The "Phoenix Four" put up about £60,000 each for their ownership stake.

Their combined assets are now worth over £50 million, while the company has gone into administration.

See what I'm getting at?

My hubby was telling me this the other night, basically saying the company has gone into admin but the 4 bosses seem to be doing alright.

(Ford Powertrain derivative) :bag:What, even in the Atom? Aren't they still using a Honda engine? :p (*bang* Ouch! My foot!)
the company has gone into admin but the 4 bosses seem to be doing alright.Ah, the wonders of capitalism.