MG Rover

[aclivity]

well, it looks like the last UK car manufacturer of any volume has gone
MG Rover goes into administration

probably not a huge surprise but I think it is a sad day.

[ahar]

Certainly a sad day for all those that will lose their jobs.

It's been coming for a while - they didn't have any new models and they were competing against global giants. I'm surprised they lasted this long

[Pigpen]

The Phoenix (parent company) directors have done well enough out of it all. Millions of pounds into trust funds and pensions whilst the company continued to lose money, import cr@p cars (Cityrover anyone?), and generally blame everyone except themselves.

Its a competitive marketplace, if you don't compete, you lose.

Feel sorry for all the Rover employees who were given so much false hope when Phoenix took over.

[Louby Lou]

Depending on what happens it is going to hit the area hard..

We are to loose Jag at Browns Lane, Peugeot at Ryton and most probably Rover up at Longbridge... all within about 15 mins of me.

The number of friends and family that I have associated with all 3 of these companies are all set to loose their jobs. They were 3 of the biggest employers in the area. It is a sad time for car manufacturing here. What will we have left?

[Woz]

Rover are probably the UK company who have pissed it up the wall more annoyingly than any other- BMW really screwed them over. They had 3 good brands- Mini, Land Rover and MG. Mini and Land Rover were cherry picked and the MG brand needs a revamp to be taken seriously. The Rover bit is the Aldi of the motoring world- cheap cars, questionable build quality and some terrible design ideas like that 25 with the black plastic bumpers. Unless the Rover company can rebrand themselves a la Skoda then they will never make it in the volume manufacturing world.

[Noel Johnson]

Originally Posted by Louby Lou

Depending on what happens it is going to hit the area hard..

We are to loose Jag at Browns Lane, Peugeot at Ryton and most probably Rover up at Longbridge... all within about 15 mins of me.

The number of friends and family that I have associated with all 3 of these companies are all set to loose their jobs. They were 3 of the biggest employers in the area. It is a sad time for car manufacturing here. What will we have left?

Some of us already have lost them... What we'll have left is a niche market car industry, which although very nice and interesting can't support large numbers of employees. I think the largest one of these is TVR and look how many cars they make, and even then they're not British owned.

The UK is rapidly becoming a tertiary industry community with the vast majority working in insurance and the finance industries. As far as I'm concerned this is not good for the stability of the region.

[Scuby]

Originally Posted by Louby Lou

What will we have left?

Research and development, sales and marketing, insurance, finance, and anything else that can't easily be done in South East Asia.

Not good if you work for any of these companies, but in reality it will happen to most manufacturers in this country sooner or later. We (as a nation) don't have any big advantage when making cars, or in making most other things really. That's not to say that cars can't viably be produced in the UK, Nissan are doing very well in Sunderland last time I heard, but its not a huge advantage over anyone else - we've got the productivity and infrastructure, other countries' labour costs sometimes outweighs that, sometimes doesn't. We do however have much greater strengths in R&D, hi-tech low-volume stuff, finance, and obviously every country always needs its own retail sector. The economy will move to the areas where it is strongest, and unfortunately that isn't Rover.

David

[Louby Lou]

Originally Posted by wbsdave

Research and development, sales and marketing, insurance, finance, and anything else that can't easily be done in South East Asia.

True but it hasn't stopped them in the past trying to take away R&D. The R&D centre that was part of engineering at Warwick and WMG disappeared when Rover had problems last time. It just didn't hit the R&D centre it also hit the IMC too. Luckily though they now have new contracts with others, and in a turn around of events, people who were made redundant in the IMC have now been reinstated.

However, all 3 are big employers in the region. The motor industry all across the area from the manufacturers to the dealerships and the independent traders are all in some way feeling the effect quite significantly. You only have to look at certain areas of Coventry to notice the huge holes in the ground were another petrol station or garage has been pulled down for new housing developments.

Alot of the people who are employed by Jaguar and Peugeot have been with the companies for years, generations, especially Jaguar. It will be difficult to remploy these skilled craftsmen. It is really sad.

Oh well... they'll pull Browns Lane down, they put new houses up... we'll certainly notice the diffierent then. At the moment the Browns Lane plant is surprisingly inconspicuous however, new housing estates and yet another retail park on the site will ruin a lovely and pleasant area that I have had the pleasure of being part of... the closure of Jaguar will no doubt be a very sad day

[Mr T.]

Rover owners lose two-year warranty
By Andrew English and Christopher Hope
(Filed: 13/04/2005)

MG Rover walked away from its new-car warranty responsibilities last night, leaving up to 150,000 owners to pay for any problems with their cars.

Rob Hunt, of the MG Rover administrator, explained in a statement that "the company no longer has sufficient funds to reimburse warranties".


Mounting concern: ‘There isn't any cash’ to cover warranties

He said three-year warranties "continue in the first instance to be a matter between dealers and their customers". But he suggested that they might consider buying another warranty from "an alternative provider".

Normally, warranty work would be performed free by MG Rover dealers and the bill would subsequently be paid by the company, which underwrites the first two years. The third year's warranty is dealer-backed mechanical breakdown insurance cover, arranged through a third-party specialist.

Some 150,000 drivers who bought cars in the past two years are affected.

Although MG Rover has not had a particularly high level of warranty claims, it has liabilities of up to £300 million to its trade creditors.

Any outstanding warranty bills are therefore "simply another liability, along with all the others", said one MG Rover source, "and there isn't any cash to cover these bills".

Richard Cort, the chairman of the MG Rover dealer council which represents 264 dealerships, said: "I'm very disappointed, but I think the show must go on.

"You've got to remember that, on average, every dealer is owed £100,000 in unpaid warranty payments and sales allowances. I'd like to hold the dealer network together and make sure our customers are looked after with a third-party warranty that is as cost-effective as possible."

Parts and servicing for the rest of the two million or so Rover cars on the roads should continue to be supplied as normal, although no free servicing agreements will be honoured.

MG Rover parts are supplied by the American company Cat Logistics, which claims that the supply of parts should be safe.

"We have in excess of £40 million worth of MG Rover parts in stock," said John Parkinson, the chairman of Cat Logistics.

"We bought the business six months ago, so we were aware of the risks, but we have direct relations with over 800 suppliers and if we can't resource the part there, we'll get the tool and take it somewhere else to have it made."

The families of workers at MG Rover's Longbridge plant will take their concerns to Downing Street this morning. Four coaches will ferry about 200 wives and girlfriends to London, where they will deliver a letter to No 10. They will urge the Government to continue attempts to save the company and ensure generous redundancy terms.

The protest has been organised by Liz Hanks, 39, and Gemma Cartright, 38.

Mrs Hanks's husband, Phillip, who works in the paint shop at Longbridge, said his wife was angry about the way workers were treated.

"The wives are seeing our livelihoods go down the drain and it's not the workers' fault," said Mr Hanks, 39. "We build quality cars and know MG Rover could be back as the world's best manufacturer."

Thousands of workers were sent home on a week's full pay on Monday while the administrator, Price Waterhouse Coopers, worked on securing their futures with unions and Department of Trade and Industry officials.

PWC was only stopped from laying off 5,300 workers when the Government handed over a £6.5 million loan to pay their wages for a week, without clearing it with the European Commission. The company's position will be reviewed in a few days.

Tony Blair said "we just have to do whatever we can to help" save production. But City sources said the possibility of a life-saving takeover deal by China's Shanghai Automotive were remote.

[MattS]

We are to loose Jag at Browns Lane, Peugeot at Ryton and most probably Rover up at Longbridge...

OMG. That has to account for most of the major employers. A lot of the small supply companies will also suffer.

I was raised in Coventry. Lived down the road from Massey Ferguson and Triumph motorcycles for fourteen years. The City has always been boom or bust and I think that reflects in the live for today attitude of many of the residents. The bust of the 80s is what forced me daarrn saaarrrth. Still miss the place and mostly the people.

Good luck to all those affected.