As far as I'm concerned, I'm glad. I've had Longbridge built cars for over twenty years and I wouldn't have kept buying them if they were bad. So to all those easily led, pin-striped ponces from the South East that berate anything built in Britain in favour of some cheap continental tat with a hear today gone tomorrow fashion badge - up yours. These are the type of individuals that believe every utterarance of Rover aimed bile from the likes of Quentin Wilson and Jeremy Clarkson - the latter being the most hideous. He's the one remember, that puts down anything that is made in Longbridge without real research, admits that he doesn't like the brand and was pleased when MG Rover closed, putting over 10,000 people on the dole. And the irony is that in another ten years he'll end up on our screens telling us what wonderful auto-engineers we once had and wonder why our most historic of car plants closed in 2005 - prat.
There was nothing wrong with MG Rover - their cars or the business. Yes, the 25 and 45 (and their MG derivatives) were getting a bit long in the tooth, but there was a replacement already designed and tested remember. All that was needed was to re-tool Longbridge, a process that normally takes around 12 months or so. The business plan and strategy of the company was also spot on. right from the outset of the Phoenix consortium taking control, they busied themselves trying to find a joint venture partnership and came within a whisker of sucess. So why did MG Rover close?
One of the main considerations that has been overlooked is the running of the economy by the government - the same government that approved the Phoenix bid for MG Rover. It is generally thought that the Chancellor did a decent job. But such opinions are only held by people that work in the city. You see, this was the first time that Labour had been incharge of our affairs for over 18 years, and so politically sensetive were they that they should not appear to go back to the old socialist model of subsidies, they would do anything to court the approval of big city institutions such as banking, finance and service. they ignored traditional manufacturing industries north of the M25 belt and as overseas money poured in to London, the value of Sterling rose. It rose to such a level that manufacturers found it near impossible to compete in foreign markets. Look at one of MG Rover's biggest markets on the copntinent - Spain. Rover cars are loved there and are a big favourite with the locals, and yet even here the price of a car manufactured in Britain would cost almost a third more purely because of the value of Sterling.
Domestically, there was also the anti-Rover predominantly London based press that was out of touch with the rest of the country. In Europe, although there are laws to prevent subsidies, some of the continental governments give 'assistance' to their domestic manufacturers (something Gordon Brown spoke about in the 2005 election campaign but as usual, has done nothing about it since). There was the joint venture with SAIC of China. Everything was set up and the Chineese company waited for a response from the DTI over pension liabilities aprratantly. And it waited, and it waited. The DTI couldn't even be bothered to reply. The only time you saw a Government official talking to SAIC was in April 2005 when Gordon Brown tried desperately to stop SAIC pulling out of the deal during an election campaign.
One last word though regarding our govenment. Isn't it strange that almost three years on the enquiry into the collaps of MG Rover hasn't concluded and I wonder if they are afraid of some of the findings. I am further curious as to how it is that over £40bn can be handed out to the Northern Rock with little in the way of financial assurance to the taxpayer regarding re-payment. And yet it wouldn't underwrite the joint venture with SAIC which would have cost far less and provided annual balance of payments benefits of over £2bn.
And just for you lot of anti-Rover biggots out there who believe that the Rover marque is dead, listen out for a press announcement sometime between mid-January to the end of February. Strong rumours comming out of Longbridge points to a licensing deal between them and the new owners of Land Rover who own the Rover brand.