ROVER

[James]

BMW, who are currently very succesfull, are in Germany, a country with equally large amounts of red tape. They chose, many years ago to move upmarket. I dont think anyone would say they were cheap, but they sold more of them than Ford did the Mondeo last year. Price is not the only factor. Perception is what counts and people percieve a BMW/Merc/Honda to be better than Rover... regardless of the truth.

The media also has a big, and usually negative part to play. Just look at how the Jeremy Clarkson comments detroyed the Vectra. In Rover's case, they simply questioned the viability of the company on such a regular basis that it became a self fullfiling prophecy. Dropping sales = Less Investment =  Older Range = Dropping Sales.

Yes BMW did get it right by going up market this mirrors what I was saying earlier but at the same time they do have more money advertising is the way to go to sell anything in this world when was the last time you saw an advert on tv for Rover, I dont know about you but when I saw the new Golf GTi ad with Gene kelly dancing in the rain I thought   I want one Rover have sat on there laurells for too long BUT the buying public do have something to answer for.

The media do play an unfair part in all this and whilst Clarkson has become popular for his arogance he does weald a weapon that I dont think he even understands the potential of.

I think that its right that Rover go and I dont belive that tax payers money should be flushed down the toilet with the rest of the company but there we go thats labour trying to win votes for you all 6000 of them.

[nlash]

Nissan in Sunderland and Toyota at Burnaston two massive car production plants.  

Yes but they only assemble cars, just like people assemble washing machines or toasters. MG Rover also has an engineering centre, the skilled bit that involves designing, testing & validating cars before they are put on sale to the public.

Nissan has a state of the art R&D centre in Cranfield Bucks

[Mark Stanton]

people percieve a BMW/Merc/Honda to be better than Rover... regardless of the truth.

Thats because the examples you have chosen are better            

Maybe Proton or Kia would have been better examples to choose

Why are folks getting so sentimental over Rover going under

Lets have a vote - How many folks drive a Rover          

[Rob Navin]

Lets have a vote - How many folks drive a Rover          

I did and I have to say it was still one of the best cars I have driven.

I did a LOT of miles in my 75 for work and pleasure and it never let me down and never looked out of place.

It was a cracing car and build quility was very good.  But people who had never dirven them still see fit to knock them just top make their personal choice of cars more appealing.

Just my view  

[perksy]

Why are folks getting so sentimental over Rover going under

Lets have a vote - How many folks drive a Rover          

Never Ever again    

Even Had loads of problems with the Dealer that supplied the car    

[windy]

It was a cracing car and build quility was very good.  But people who had never dirven them still see fit to knock them just top make their personal choice of cars more appealing.

Just my view

Yep, the 75 is one that stands out because it is a genuinely good performer. BMW were keen to damp down its appeal when they owned it because it was seen as a threat to their own product. Then when Rover got it back again they made tweeks to the chassis to make it what it was supposed to be originally.

75 I would say has the best high speed ride refinement & poise in its class, better than many prestige brands I've driven. Even the Saab 9-5 or 9-3 are behind it. It's just that old git image that the press give it that's not helped sales. I thought the V8 tourer was good with its rear wheel drive, shame the coupé version will never make production. That looked as if it was going to be a nice car with most of the chrome removed.

[JEM]

My Dad has owned his 75 for the last 2years without any problems. Road tested a MG ZT-T 135 cdti recently, and if I didn't own a Discovery I would have seriously considered buying one, plenty of mid range punch.

Can't see why the likes of Police and local authorities don't operate the cars and keep the factory alive.

But thats only my opinion

[Mark Stanton]

and Rover have now announced that they will not be honouring warranties on new cars                        

That'll have everyone flocking to the showrooms to buy up the stock (not)      

[felters]

Mark's post has just reminded me that when I did the Academy day at Upper Heyford recently (a good thing BTW) I couldn't help but notice the acres of Rovers (and some other brands too) being stored there. They could carry on supplying their dealers for a while to come without making another car... and I'm sure there are other stores as well. A man on the radio is wittering on about the pension fund deficit and the fact that if/when it goes into receivership it will have to repay a huge loan to BMW that was made when Phoenix bought Rover for  £10... time to let go I'm afraid.  

Edit to add the loan was for £550 million...

[neilwillis]

I was talking to my brother last night, and the government scheme for underwriting pensions will bail out their fund and they'll get 90% of their pensions.

[neilwillis]

Just heard that the part built cars on the production line are being removed, and crushed.

That sounds pretty final to me.

[cidersurfer]

IIRC Rover have been massaging their sales figures for quite a while. ISTR there were new cars available at the auctions. Perception has an enormous part to play in today's marketplace. For example, a colleague has just been offered a Mondeo, a 75, a Zafira and another (can't remember which) as his replacement and he genuinely fancied the 75. He ended up getting the Mondeo as when he seeked opinions the first 4 people answered the Rover was for old men. He's nearly 40 and people were telling him that people would think he had borrowed his dad's car.

It's sad but they cannot compete in todays 'global' market.

Signed

ExMetro (with BMW shaped dent in the front) driver.

[jl34]

i cant quite believe some of the comments im reading on this subject, Mark's comment "why are folks getting sentimental about Rover going under", show an unbelievable arrogance and ignorance. I'll tell you who cares, not just 6,000 workers, perhaps 10,000 more supply workers and business's. In addition to that perhaps the hundreds of thousands of people that chose to drive a Rover car. Are all of these people stupid ?

Rover got an old man image because many older people wanted to drive a Rover. Why?, because the older generations of people had a pride in their country and industry , and wanted to support it. And for that the company has suffered, not just from a succesion of bad owners, but opinionated 'know it alls'. that don't understand the difficulties that Rover has had to face

Whether you have an opinion on Rover or not, a little respect respect should be shown to the people who will be devastated by this.

[Blatman]

I don't think anyone with an opinion on the Rover story has any negative feelings towards the unfortunate folk who will be suffering because of this. However, emotion needs to be seperated from the equation when evaluating just what is happening.

Rover got an old man image because many older people wanted to drive a Rover. Why?, because the older generations of people had a pride in their country and industry , and wanted to support it.

Nonsense. I agree whole heartedly with the Buy British sentiment, but the fact is Rover has been owned by a German company since the 90's, and was in partnership with Honda before that. In a similar fashion, should we expect the Buy British folk to buy Nissans that are made in England (Buy Blitish )? It's the same thing... well in the practical sense at least, because if Nissan were to pull out there's be mass redundancies etc etc...

I wonder how the owners decided to not invest too? Could it be the well known apathy of the work force, forcing the owners to take the view that IF they were to inject some (large sums of) money, would the workforce be as equally forward looking? On the evidence I've seen, I would say not. As I said before, BL/Rover/whatever has been doomed for a long, long time...

[Ian Podmore]

5,000 now redundant....... Just got to wait now to see how many more are affected down the supply chain.  Bad news.