MG Rover - So who is to blame?

[Digsy]

Today's controversial poll:

 

Things aren't looking any better for MG Rover, and there are protests by the families going today, but who is really to blame (you can vote for more than one).

[Pete]

Can we have an "All of the above" one?

[JustGav]

I'll add my 2c as well...

 

I don't feel the government is right bailing them out... at the end of the day they are a company... while it may be british, I doubt VERY much the govenment would help out any of our companies if they were up the creek...

[DaveRex]

The Phoenix consortium bouggh them for £10 and took on about £500 million of debt

 

they probably knew they would never turn it around, they paid themselves large salaries and took money out the company early

 

they did what any ruthless businessman would at the end of the day

 

Rover have nothing, their dealerships are heavily mortgaged, they don't own the MG brand, they don't own the rights to the 25 or 75 models, they don't own the K series engine rights and they have a £400 million pension hole

they do have a £8 million country estate though for what thats worth

 

its not looking good

[how_supra]

I blame Rover for not keeping up with the market trends and getting complacent. I know that sounds harsh but it’s true otherwise they wouldn’t be in the position they are in now

 

I don’t think you can look individually at European, American or Far Eastern Markets anymore, it’s the world automotive market which is extremely competitive and Rovers’ obvious lack of capability or desirability (I don’t know which) to compete on a global scale is IMO the result of their decline.

 

Even back in the day, Rovers alliance with Honda was only a short term arrangement. For those of you who don’t know, the Honda alliance was a strategy employed to obtain a temporary product (The Triumph Acclaim) whilst a delayed programme was completed. Back in the 80’s Rover had significant lack of funding which basically meant that existing models were uncompetitive and inefficient, and they were not able to produce new models, which were desirable to the wider market.

 

I suppose you can blame BMW a bit for neglecting Rover in the Mid 90’s, but mostly it’s their own fault.

 

I hope I don’t sound too harsh, but its business and if they are loosing money it’s simple – its because they are crap at what they do.

[tbourner]

I blame partly the media as well. I've never heard a good review of a MGRover from Clarkson!!

 

Even the SV-R he drove, said it was brilliant, compared it to the Spitfire, loved it loads. Then moaned that 3rd gear didn't work and the interior was rubbish - Failed to mention however that it was loaned to them by Peter Stephens himself and it was a pre-pre-prototype model and all these problems aren't really problems at all!!!

 

The SV-R was planned to help MGR in a major way, and only 50 were bought (now probably going to be worth quite a bit!!!). Not that I'm blaming Top Gear completely but it is annoying that JC is so anti-MGR.

[how_supra]

Isn't poll line 1 and poll line 6 the same???

 

That's

Rover themselves

Other car manufacturers

[Guest Sakura]

You should have added another option - the Pheonix Group directors, who are guilty of asset-stripping on a massive scale (£40million+ at the last count) after buying the company from BMW for £10.

[Digsy]

Isn't poll line 1 and poll line 6 the same???

 

That's

Rover themselves

Other car manufacturers

Depends how you look at it. If you take a different market sector and consider, say, Jaguar and Mercedes (and, yes, I know Jag are owned by Ford, who are American ) you could reasonably say that both cars are desirable but one might be better than the other.

 

What I was getting at with (1) was that some people actively don't want a Rover, whereas with (6) people might consider a Rover but finally be swayed onto a different product.

[Digsy]

You should have added another option - the Pheonix Group directors, who are guilty of asset-stripping on a massive scale (£40million+ at the last count) after buying the company from BMW for £10.

I think you are right, but I can't edit my own poll! Maybe a friendly Mod could do it?

[michael]

I blame religion

[attilauk]

i blame all those foxes that aren't being killed because of the hunting ban

[Ian C]

I blame guns

[JustGav]

Guns don't kill people...Rappers do

 

 

 

 

 

*DUCK*

[DaveRex]

Rappers or Wappers ?

[JustGav]

or Rabbits??

[JustGav]

Wappers... weren't they the birds in the 50's and in movies such as bugsy malone??

 

 

No, wait, they were flappers

[MONKEYmark]

i blame the parents

 

didnt they have honda in with them and they dumped honda to go with bmw?

wasnt it Britsh leyland/Rover at one time?

the big companies just come in and get best parts of company they want and forget about not so good bits.

 

i used to have a triumph acclaim years ago it was a honda engine and box and never had any trouble with that car, just the british made bodywork used to rot away. honda seem to have it right, they make cars that work. there is always that thing in back of your mind about british cars always breaking down.

 

see if people remember what a shower of cnuts labour are come time to voting. all them people going to be laid off work.

[tbourner]

Even if you bought an MG recently (goes for the ZR at least) there are BMW badged components in the engine!!

[kunwho]

[TLicense]

Ahh but at least we've only thrown another £6.5million quid down the Rover drain. Have we got a flushed down the pan emoticon?

[FaithStalker]

i had a rover 45 as a company car a few years back, it was awful, fell apart,

but whats the difference between that and an Alfa?

 

simple,

 

looks.

 

the 45 and the 75 only seemed to ever appeal to flat-cap drivers,

the convertable mg, was "almost" there, but again i had a ride in one

and i worked with a guy who owned one, and he was getting 1000quid service

bills every year, some major part would always be required to be replaced.

it wasnt anything special and did really appeal to the early 30's driver who wanted real sports car handling and great sound,

it was only later that they added the MG 175.. was it called? to be a true sports car that things got interesting for that model, but the reputation was already in the gutter.

why by a new MG 175 convertabile for 18to20grand when you can go get a BMW m3 convertible second hand and let it run and run.

 

at the end of the day, MG used to be great because if you looked around at the cars at that time they looked pretty cool, there was no real 2nd market, and the mini was a revolution.

MG today - can you say that????