632 replies to this topic

[ensign14]

Was he called Rover?

[Vitesse2]

Was he called Rover?

No rugby songs please, this is a family forum

[AbingdonST]

Was he called Rover?

Damn it, I wish that I had called him that now, if only I had known this thread would emerge 20 years ago. R.I.P MAX (Black Lab)

[Vitesse2]

Phoenix Four finally get small slap on the wrist.

After seven years: Former MG Rover workers to receive £3 compensation

[RTH]

Scandalous

[ensign14]

Just think, had the Labour government spent one hundredth on MG Rover that it spent on rescuing one incompetent building society based in a Labour area, we wouldn't be talking about this sort of thing.

[bradbury west]

Coming back along the M4 yesterday I came across this device badged as a Rover 150, ie 2 x 75s



All photos strictly copyright Roger Lund. All rights reserved.
Click images for larger view.
Roger Lund

[RTH]

Also yesterday an MG 6 in the hands of Jason Plato won the first 2 races and came 4th in the reversed grid 3rd race to lead the British Touring Car championship - and his new team mate Sam Tordoff , son of Jack Tordoff , also went well and is 3rd in the standings after the first meeting at Brands Hatch.

If only MG's new owners would capitalise on this with some advertising and some readily available choice of product in dealers all around the country.
What of course they need more than anything is a new range of distinctive ,small light and inexpensive sportscars and sports coupes in line with the policy and heritage of MG started in the late 1920s which made them such desirable cars even up to the end in 2005 when the MGF was still outselling the MX5 2:1 in Britain.

[BRG]

If only MG's new owners would capitalise on this with some advertising and some readily available choice of product in dealers all around the country.

Ever seen a MG6 on the road? No, me neither. I saw one in 2011 on display on the seafront at Llandudno, then I saw two just today - on the forecourt of a dealer in Datchet. Otherwise, ziltch, although it isn't a very distinctive car so some may have slipped by unseen. But as they seem to have sold less than 1,000 so far, they won't be very common.

[RTH]

At long last an MG revival is showing some green shoots with a new small car under £10,000 goes on sale here in the next few weeks.
http://www.autocar.c...00-new-pictures

Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff continue to be competitive in the 2013 British Touring car Championship.

[BRG]

It looks tempting.  Especially if specified in 'Hello Yellow'! 

[garyfrogeye]

I would have considered it for my wife if they'd done a 3 door veraion. However she takes delivery of a Kia Rio on Saturday which is pretty much full loaded, 1.4 litre with 6 speed with all the bits (except sat nav) and comes as standard with a Seven year parts and labour warrantee at a tad over £11,500. It replaces a 2002 Rover 25 1.4i which has just become too unrelaible.
Apart from my company car, my other car is a 1958 Mk1 Sprite
 

[Vitesse2]

Deloitte fined £14m over MG Rover sale

 

Sounds a lot, doesn't?

 

Deloitte's worldwide turnover last year was USD 34 billion ...

[BRG]

Deloitte fined £14m over MG Rover sale

 

Sounds a lot, doesn't?

 

Yes.  Because it is a lot, irrespective of how much their turnover might be.

[Vitesse2]

Okay then, how about comparing it to their profits last year - in the UK alone, they made £572 million on revenues of £2.5 billion. £14 million is just under 2.5% of that.

 

The fine levied on Maghsoud Einollahi amounts to just one-third of his bonus for last year. I'm sure he'll be quite capable of living on the other half million for the three years of his suspension - which he probably won't really serve as he will likely just **** off to work somewhere else where he isn't banned.

 

http://www.independe...ow-8756650.html

 

As far as Deloitte are concerned it's a drop in the ocean.

[ensign14]

Accountants. Pfft.

[RTH]

This whole BL/Rover  affair was the most terrible mismanagement  scandal over decades tens of billions of taxpayers money was lost-  as were tens of thousands of jobs - in the end it could hardly have had a worse ending. One of many things that sees Britain now with a national debt of 1.2 trillion pounds which continues to grow by a further 100billion each year. We remain in trouble that will take decades to recover from.

[BRG]

We remain in trouble that will take decades to recover from.

Tyr telling George "Poshboy" Osbourne that.  He is busy preening himself today for saving Britain's economy.  On my local trading estate, two-thirds of the units are vacant and pretty much all that is left is motor trade stuff.  There is nothing productive.  We are in hock up to our eyeballs, yet our beloved leaders were all set to bomb Syria at heaven know how much a pop for cruise missiles.  Funny that there is always money for wars, when there is none for education, health and other fluff.

[RTH]

Here is the new MG 3 - looks quite a promising starting point and it is designed in the West Midlands with final assembly at Longbridge

prices start at £8399 - let us hope for some sports cars and rakish 2 seater coupes to follow in the tradition of the MG brand from the 1930s onwards

http://www.autocar.c...views2_readmore

[Peter Morley]

Tyr telling George "Poshboy" Osbourne that.  He is busy preening himself today for saving Britain's economy.  On my local trading estate, two-thirds of the units are vacant and pretty much all that is left is motor trade stuff.  There is nothing productive.  We are in hock up to our eyeballs, yet our beloved leaders were all set to bomb Syria at heaven know how much a pop for cruise missiles.  Funny that there is always money for wars, when there is none for education, health and other fluff.

 

So much for the only 16(?)% of premises being vacant.

With a war they can then sell replacements for all the stuff they sold to the culprits in the first place! Like MG selling you a car then coming along, destroying it and selling you a new one!

[RTH]

Well it is now 10 years since the closure.

 

There are good signs for MG..........a new much improved MG 6 is about to be launched  the MG 3 has received plenty of favourable road test coverage.  A mid range MG 5 is to launch here in the UK soon and  we should see the first pictures of a new MG sportscar at the end of the year. They showed a luxury/sports style SUV concept car that has also had the go ahead.

The cars are assembled at Longbridge - they still own a 69 acre site - with 500 employees currently expanding . All MG design work is done  in Birmingham.

Sales in the first quarter are up 50% a whole new  large dealer network is currently being recruited.

The Triple 8 MG British touring car team  after the first 3 rounds at Brands Hatch currently leads the Championship in the hand of Jack Goff.

 

The cars whilst mainstream retain a  sporting heritage image, crucially in the MG tradition  they are all low priced and hence better value for money than the competition.

 

After 90 years + now of the company, the future is certainly on an upward path at last , I wish  MG well. It is to be hoped all those dark days are behind them and we may again   be offered a range of  fun affordable sports cars.

[BRG]

Unfortunately, the new MG hasn't been moving the units despite the race programme and the TV adverts.  Only a couple of thousand MG6s have been sold, and about the same for MG3s, although in a far shorter time. A total of 4 or 5,000 cars isn't much to show for all the investment and even a Chinese beancounter is going to wonder if it is worthwhile.  But maybe they are playing the long game.  Whatever, they need to make better cars if they want to succeed, a lesson the old BLMC never learnt of of course!

[RTH]

Indeed true but at long last the signs are positive.

In quality terms just look at where Kia were ten years ago - and  the  really excellent quality the current new range is and their amazing warranty period ( something Vauxhall for instance have quietly dropped their 'for life' guarantee ! )

MG have yet  to market the new range at all well - and they are going to need a dealer in every big town to make a sales impact .

Some good progress look  likely now.

[Derwent Motorsport]

As someone who has owned "modern" MGs since the 80s, the current cars are completely devoid of character. Sadly I drive a Mondeo now which is way better than the 6. The 3 and 6 could well be  Kias with 2 MG badges.  MG Motor do not seem to do much to sell the cars. I get regular emails asking me to test drive a car but the website tells me my nearest dealer to contact is in the Isle of Man. I have written several increasingly cynical emails to MG Motor pointing out this error but not even a reply.

There are no plans for a sports car by the way but the SUV (looks like any other SUV) at the end of the year while the 5 is not until next year.

It's very odd that in China they are really flogging the British Heritage and history of the marque but not in the UK.

[Allan Lupton]

I'd never heard of MG3 and MG6 until the posts above, and looking them up I cannot see what putting an MG badge on the front does for the cars (apart from giving Brown & Gammons a reason to sell them).

I wonder how B&G come to terms with the proud statement:  "Modern MGs are still designed and engineered at our historic home in  Longbridge, Birmingham and the MG3 is no exception"
The website's text puts a great deal into describing the sound system but very little into describing the motorcar - "specification" is all about superficial things like mirrors and LED running lights and even the technical bit doesn't tell you if it's front drive, like most of the grey porridge it resembles.

Strange how the small one is petrol engined and the large one diseasel when most of the opposition would offer both sorts of engine on each.

Edited by Allan Lupton, 14 April 2015 - 19:20.

[RTH]

There is an article in today's Auto Express with the latest model plans The MG5 which was launched a couple of years ago in other countries is now not going to go on sale in Britain. Two SUVs are to be built. A MK 2 MG3 with more power and improved trim levels . There will be a sportscar but it has been put back to bring forward a competitor to the Nissan Juke (it seems for whatever reason these are the sort of vehicle an increasingly high proportion of people are buying)

They road test the newly revised MG 6 which has lots of extra equipment, dash, interior, exterior styling and   entry level model price has been cut £3000 to £13950.

The petrol engine has been dropped in favour of a new more powerful 1.9 turbodiesel  with far greater economy , more torque & power and much lower emissions . These sort of vehicles it seems are what new car buyers ( which are mainly fleets) still want. They do not have a currently competitive petrol engine.

They appear to have a world sales agenda, Britain it seems- they are not giving a high priority at present. We would I am sure like a range of  modern sports cars  and  stylish small GT/Touring cars which the MG Car Co. built its reputation on - it seems now  we will have to wait a bit longer for those.

[RTH]

Latest I read - MG sold 200,000 cars in China in 2014 -  so far in 2015  2461 UK registrations up 50% on 2014.

In 2000 the Phoenix  outfit sold 103,000 MGs & Rovers.

The MG GS the larger of the two forthcoming SUVs on sale in China for some time  will launch here in the new year. They say this is the sector where world demand is now greatest. they promise a new or heavily revised model every year for the next 5 years.

 

No sportscar it seems now before 2020  - odd , it is what the company has been synonymous with since 1924 and what the brand still means to most people.

MGB & MGF sold at a rate of 25000 per year. At present a sector entirely left to Mazda's MX5.

MG in the public consciousness was perceived as  'a poor man's Aston Martin'  - would I should have thought made more sense to sit on that niche territory  rather than try to start taking on the might of the Ford Motor Company with head on models.

Longbridge employs 400 on design, prototyping and engineering and a further 50 assembling part built   kits coming in from the far east on the original site. 6500 worked at Longbridge  in 2005, back in 1935 it was over 30,000.

Having re established production  it is to be hoped  they might look back over history  and move towards affordable sporting themed cars which was Cecil Kimber's vision with William Morris's wholehearted support before Leonard Lord' waded in with an accountant's red pen in the mid 1930s -  without thinking through the technological benefit they were bringing to the whole group in terms of efficient new designs. Without that intervention  history of the firm might have been very different.

[Derwent Motorsport]

I don't think anyone in the MG world really understands the marketing policy of MG in it's current form. In China they really push the heritage angle in their sales and have their version of MG Live! but the cars are really very average. I, and I am sure others, have pointed this out to the sales folk that come to MG events in the Uk but ti does not seme to get through. I suggested that they need to look at how MG Rover transformed the lack lustre Rover 25 into the MG ZR by tweaking the suspension, engine, adding a body kit and making the interior more sporty. The gut said; "That was then". I pointed out how many Z cars MGs sold and he just walked away. At the moment the MG3 and MG6 could be anything if you sit in one. As one enthusiast said " A Kia with tow MG badges on the outside and one on the inside."

[Lee Nicolle]

Latest I read - MG sold 200,000 cars in China in 2014 -  so far in 2015  2461 UK registrations up 50% on 2014.

In 2000 the Phoenix  outfit sold 103,000 MGs & Rovers.

The MG GS the larger of the two forthcoming SUVs on sale in China for some time  will launch here in the new year. They say this is the sector where world demand is now greatest. they promise a new or heavily revised model every year for the next 5 years.

 

No sportscar it seems now before 2020  - odd , it is what the company has been synonymous with since 1924 and what the brand still means to most people.

MGB & MGF sold at a rate of 25000 per year. At present a sector entirely left to Mazda's MX5.

MG in the public consciousness was perceived as  'a poor man's Aston Martin'  - would I should have thought made more sense to sit on that niche territory  rather than try to start taking on the might of the Ford Motor Company with head on models.

Longbridge employs 400 on design, prototyping and engineering and a further 50 assembling part built   kits coming in from the far east on the original site. 6500 worked at Longbridge  in 2005, back in 1935 it was over 30,000.

Having re established production  it is to be hoped  they might look back over history  and move towards affordable sporting themed cars which was Cecil Kimber's vision with William Morris's wholehearted support before Leonard Lord' waded in with an accountant's red pen in the mid 1930s -  without thinking through the technological benefit they were bringing to the whole group in terms of efficient new designs. Without that intervention  history of the firm might have been very different.

You can understand the MX5 have that market. About 100% better than anything else in that area.

[RTH]

Indeed sadly I have to agree the current 3 and 6 cars are just nothing like special enough, have none of the style or feel for what the brand has meant down the years to be truly MGs.

This was the scene in July this year in the back garden of a Triple M register member an event gathering in its 11th year.

 

 

Somehow in 82 years from now  I cannot envisage a similar  field of MG3 and MG6 cars.

 

They really do need to get a grip on what the marque means  and add in that special quality feel.

[GreenMachine]

You can understand the MX5 have that market. About 100% better than anything else in that area.

That is true today Lee, but there is always room for someone to build a better mousetrap tomorrow.

Although, I would have to say after sampling the new ND MX5 it would have to be a VERY good mousetrap ...
 
(I have heard (and maybe posted somewhere here) that a couple of hundred new MG sedans have been sitting on a wharf here for several years, unsaleable as they have asbestos in them.  This could be urban myth territory, except that Great Wall and one other (Chery?) have had to replace components/gaskets because of asbestos - this was discovered after they had (or some of them) passed into buyers' hands, the MGs were still in bond when this happened.)

[BRG]

Somehow in 82 years from now  I cannot envisage a similar  field of MG3 and MG6 cars.

Even today, there are far more MGBs taxed and on the road in the UK than MG3s and MG6s together.  Over 21,000 versus 3,700.

 

The MG3 is a nice, well-equipped little car and at £11k it is excellent value.  But the engine is very indifferent.  Which surely undermines the whole point of an MG.

[Rupertlt1]

I came across this video of prototype minis being tested:

4:18 "disused airfield" — is this Chalgrove, Oxfordshire?

Who are the test drivers of 123 FC and 096 FC?

Later we see 404 FC, 553 FC.

All Oxford registrations.

RGDS RLT

Edited by Rupertlt1, Today, 03:41.