MG Rover - tis a sad day |
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Peter H
Really Senior Member II Joined: 03-January-2004 Location: Worcestershire/Ost Bayern Status: Offline Points: 927 |
Posted: 17-April-2005 at 04:44 | |
< id=kpfLog style="DISPLAY: none" src="http://127.0.0.1:44501/pl.?START_LOG" onload=destroy(this)> > Reading this it sounds like a Setup !
From Todays Telegraph
Russian carmaker to raise £85m in the City A Russian carmaker with strong links to Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), the Chinese firm whose decision to end talks with MG Rover last week led to the final collapse of the British company, is planning to raise $160m (£85m) in London. < = src="/core/NetGravity/mpu.js"> < = src="http://ads.telegraph.co.uk/js.ng/site=money&spaceid=mpu&logstatus=f&transID=1113722893375&Section=money/city_news&view=details&=/money/2005/04/17/cnstal17.">SeverStal Auto is looking to offer UK institutions about 9m shares, around 30 per cent of the company, for sale at up to $17.80 each. The fund-raising values the company at $533m and the shares will be listed in Russia with trading expected to start later this month. SeverStal Auto is the car and engine manufacturing division of the huge SeverStal steel and industrial group, Russia's largest steelmaker. The company has appointed Deutsche Bank, which has a joint venture with United Financial Group, the Russian bank, to raise the funds. A roadshow including senior executives from SeverStal has been meeting potential investors in London and the fund raising is due to complete this week. SeverStal Auto owns the Ulyanovsk Automotive Plant (UAZ) and the Zavolzhsky Motor Plant (ZMZ) in Russia. Both UAZ, a leading maker of four-wheel drive vehicles, and ZMZ are well-known Russian automotive brands. In December last year, the company agreed a $500m deal with SsangYyong Motor, a South Korean carmaker owned by SAIC, that will see it assemble more than 26,000 of Ssangyong's sports utility vehicles at its Ulyanovsk plant. < =text/> |
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Das Wolperdinger
AHN-NYUNG-HEE GA-SEH-YO |
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Nigel
Moderator Group Joined: 09-November-2002 Status: Offline Points: 6941 |
Posted: 17-April-2005 at 04:53 | |
Hmmm. Its all academic, although not very pleasant. I don't suppose it matters much to my brother in law and his mates now, they just don't have jobs anymore. In many ways the workers have themselves to blame for their outdated working practices, and brain dead attitude to working in the 21st century. Our unwillingness to pay for anything in this country needs to be addressed. We seem to want the best of both worlds, we want to earn a lot of money, making producimg anything here expensive, but we then want to buy as cheaply as possible, making our own products too expensive for us, so we buy goods from the far east, our home produced products don't sell, the factories close, and the jobs and expertise are lost. |
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Best Wishes
Nigel |
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Peter H
Really Senior Member II Joined: 03-January-2004 Location: Worcestershire/Ost Bayern Status: Offline Points: 927 |
Posted: 17-April-2005 at 09:24 | |
Think that sums it up, Top Quality & as cheap as possible but can I earn a fortune as well please
Went & watched XPF convoy come in to Longbridge at lunchtime, Volvo police car leading them !
< =text/> < id=kpfLog style="DISPLAY: none" src="http://127.0.0.1:44501/pl.?START_LOG" onload=destroy(this)> > < =text/> Edited by Peter H |
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Das Wolperdinger
AHN-NYUNG-HEE GA-SEH-YO |
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Dergside
Really Senior Member II Joined: 16-May-2004 Location: Mid West, Ireland Status: Offline Points: 4000 |
Posted: 17-April-2005 at 09:37 | |
Therein lies the key I think. Rationalization was needed from as early as the late 60's and it never really happened. Instead of having several independent brands, they same brands existed in the exact same form under a single umbrella, with an additional layer of bureaucracy added to manage the combined entities. The reasons it didn't happen, in my opinion, were a combination of a management that couldn't come to grips with the concept of rationalization and didn't have the drive to make it happen, a highly unionized workforce that spent a lot of time fighting (i.e. striking) for unsustainable working conditions (while conceding little by way of change or productivity) and a government that would foot the bill. Coincidentally, I listened to an interview with Arthur Scargill recently on the radio over here and even 20 years later he couldn't acknowledge that the demise of the coal industry was an economic inevitability and that the fight to improve conditions and pay, while admirable in the sense of the conditions of the workers, only added to the inevitability. Edited by Dergside |
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Dergside
Really Senior Member II Joined: 16-May-2004 Location: Mid West, Ireland Status: Offline Points: 4000 |
Posted: 17-April-2005 at 09:44 | |
Nigel, I agree with your sentiments but its not impossible for quality, efficiency and productivity to coexist in British industry. However, it does take a willingness embrace change, economic realities, etc. to succeed. Take Nissan as an example. Their UK operation is an example to all of Nissan as well as the British manufacturing industry. The difference is that Nissan were able to start with a clean sheet of paper and design a business that incorporated the flexibility and efficiency needed to be successful and weren't carrying decades of baggage in terms of work practices, demaraction, management practice, etc. |
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Nigel
Moderator Group Joined: 09-November-2002 Status: Offline Points: 6941 |
Posted: 17-April-2005 at 10:05 | |
Volvo police car ! That sums it all up. There was a time when you didnt see a west mids police car that wasnt something to do with the austin. Ah well its gone, anyone want to employ my brother in law ? |
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Best Wishes
Nigel |
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Peter Fenwick
Bavarian-Board Contributor Joined: 27-August-2003 Location: Lost somewhere in time... Status: Offline Points: 6484 |
Posted: 18-April-2005 at 08:29 | |
I agree. It's the same as taxation. We all want the quality in public services but don't want to pay for it. Also people don't realise that buying British is about more than just being patriotic, it's about supporting the British economy (Mind you I can't talk since I don't own a British car, although my last car was made over here) |
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Entering an age of Austerity and now driving a Focus Diesel.
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Horsetan
Really Senior Member II Say Neigh to Gatsos Joined: 11-April-2003 Location: Please let it be Ireland Status: Offline Points: 6381 |
Posted: 18-April-2005 at 14:24 | |
...so we get "kwalitee" instead..... |
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therealmccoy
Really Senior Member II Joined: 27-April-2003 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 552 |
Posted: 18-April-2005 at 15:58 | |
I think we pay enough to get good public service, but instead, the govt fritter it away on Millennium Dome's asylum seekers and other such tat!
I believe that a couple of years ago a business man offered to buy out Rover MG. He was going to scrap Rover but keep MG going as a specialist sports car manufacturer. People complained he was a "Capitalist" and he was going to gut the company. The irony was that the workers would have got far more of a pay off than they currently do! The reason they weren't successful is that they were poorly made, they fell apart. Rover seemed to throw away any sort of quality and instead give leather seats etc. What do you expect from a £12k car that has full leather interior?? We had a couple of MG's at work, they fell apart - even more than the Peugeot's! The Met Police drive 5 series BMW's and E Class Mercs! It is a shame, none the less. James |
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Peter Fenwick
Bavarian-Board Contributor Joined: 27-August-2003 Location: Lost somewhere in time... Status: Offline Points: 6484 |
Posted: 19-April-2005 at 03:15 | |
I thought the millenium dome was paid for with lottery money or am I mistaken? Alowing genuine asylum seekers into the country is the right thing to do. I don't consider spending tax payers money on genuine asylum seekers a waste. |
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Entering an age of Austerity and now driving a Focus Diesel.
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rubberknees50
Really Senior Member II Does it have chrome bumpers? Joined: 26-July-2004 Location: Telford, Shropshire Status: Offline Points: 1074 |
Posted: 19-April-2005 at 06:41 | |
Sorry to see Mg Rover go, interesting about russians, is that likely to mean a bid for company or parts of it? Last I heard chinese and russians weren't too fond of each other. I had an SD1 till local vandals put it beyond economical repair, I liked it, but it's well known that build quality and all the strikes caused no end of trouble in the late 70's, and they had struggled to recover. Feel sorry for all the workers, but amazed at some of the TV reports saying how they were all shocked to be made redundant, did anyone with a TV NOT see this coming weeks/months, maybe years ago? |
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IanT
E28 528, E23 735 |
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Peter Fenwick
Bavarian-Board Contributor Joined: 27-August-2003 Location: Lost somewhere in time... Status: Offline Points: 6484 |
Posted: 19-April-2005 at 10:50 | |
They've probably all had their heads in the sand. |
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Entering an age of Austerity and now driving a Focus Diesel.
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therealmccoy
Really Senior Member II Joined: 27-April-2003 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 552 |
Posted: 19-April-2005 at 14:29 | |
Genuine asylum seekers don't have mobile phones, designer clothes and lots of Jewelry! Paid for by me! |
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rubberknees50
Really Senior Member II Does it have chrome bumpers? Joined: 26-July-2004 Location: Telford, Shropshire Status: Offline Points: 1074 |
Posted: 19-April-2005 at 14:44 | |
Goes back to nationalised industries I suppose, "jobs for life" for most of us finished years ago, not everyone took note of all the school leavers, temps and agency workers being taken on as cheap labour, managements reluctance to issue even short term contracts. I hate to think about the skills base lost.
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IanT
E28 528, E23 735 |
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Goldryder
Bavarian-Board Contributor Illegitimi Non Carborundum Joined: 02-April-2004 Location: Acomb, North Yorkshire Status: Offline Points: 5301 |
Posted: 19-April-2005 at 14:44 | |
The demise of Rover will be a topic of conversation for months to come, 'who said what', 'who did what' etc etc
Along with the 3000 or so redundancies from the Index stores, things couldn't be worse for the upcoming election. Regardless who wins at the polls, the fatcats will always get fatter and there will always be dubious business dealings that end in tears. Those who have already lost their jobs and those who will do so in the snowball effect from Rover have very little to look forward to. Hopefully at Longbridge the awaited business park will be built as quickly as possible and the promised jobs will become available very soon. But we can't forget that its not just Longbridge that has been, and will be affected by this tragedy. This snowball is rolling out of control and anyone caught in its path will have their lives ripped apart and their futures placed in jeopardy, as will their children when they leave school. The lives touched by this outrage will probably never recover...apart from those who fleeced and drained the company bank accounts. |
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Horsetan
Really Senior Member II Say Neigh to Gatsos Joined: 11-April-2003 Location: Please let it be Ireland Status: Offline Points: 6381 |
Posted: 19-April-2005 at 16:19 | |
Hmm, news reaches me from Ireland that Rover (Ireland) warranties may well be honoured.....
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Goldryder
Bavarian-Board Contributor Illegitimi Non Carborundum Joined: 02-April-2004 Location: Acomb, North Yorkshire Status: Offline Points: 5301 |
Posted: 19-April-2005 at 16:33 | |
Seems the Rover employees are to be offered retraining and possible
re-employment on the oil rigs. Could be quite a beneficial move
for those willing to take it up.
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Peter Fenwick
Bavarian-Board Contributor Joined: 27-August-2003 Location: Lost somewhere in time... Status: Offline Points: 6484 |
Posted: 20-April-2005 at 03:10 | |
Speaking of fatcats it was on the news this morning that HSBC employees are voting whether to strike or not. The company anounced record profits of 10 billion for last year yet don't want to give a fair cost of living rise to the workers. In fact a certain percentage wont be getting anything. I bet the senior management aren't in that percentage. No matter what happens the management are always trying to screw the work force. |
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Entering an age of Austerity and now driving a Focus Diesel.
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Coasting
Really Senior Member II www.TOTALTORQUE.net Joined: 05-February-2005 Location: Not with the two-faced bloke. Status: Offline Points: 2125 |
Posted: 20-April-2005 at 13:00 | |
How can you say somethingso condemning on the basis of a couple of headline figures from organisations!!!!!! You sound like an archaic union official! Tell you what, let the work force run the company - they'll be out of jobs within weeks. I can appreciate an opinion that is a bit more specific, but not one that brackets every company in one statement!
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Horsetan
Really Senior Member II Say Neigh to Gatsos Joined: 11-April-2003 Location: Please let it be Ireland Status: Offline Points: 6381 |
Posted: 20-April-2005 at 13:52 | |
So this... ...wasn't actually a crap car, then? |
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