BMW getting nervous about Rover??

Rob Right wrote: Given the recent personal attacks on the directors of MG Rover by Jim O'Donnell, managing director of BMW GB, is this a sign that that BMW are now nervous about the threat that a potentially revitalised Rover could pose to BMW?

Going back to the very first part of the discussion.  My view is that MGR is such a long way from being a threat to BMW that it is highly unlikely that this is the basis for the comment (not being complacent in that, it will be a long time before Rover cars are back to being mentioned in the same sentence as a BMW model, at any level).

The management behind the MGR buy-out from BMW have been in the news for all the wrong reasons too often in the past few years and this is more likely to be the basis for the comments.  Remember, BMW gave MGR away with a fairly substantial dowry and alot of that has been ****** away or directed to non productive ends since then (e.g. substantial pension contributions for the most senior management).  If I was BMW I'd feel a little put out about that. 

In addition it appears that there has been significant asset disposals going on (read in the past few days about more "surplus" land disposals around Longbridge to developers) and very little is finding its way in to product development that the company needs to survive past the near term.  Could this be asset stripping?

V8 engined 75's and niche MG supercars aren't much more than PR exercises and the most that has happened to the real lifeblood of the company (25, 45 and 75 and badge variants) is mild tinkering about with non metal parts (i.e. minimum cost).  In the case of the 75 facelift, the results have been astonishingly bad and change purely for the sake of change.

For the shopfloor workers there is no option but to submit and the realization must be that in the long term the writing is on the wall.  Rolls Royces and Bentley's are being substantially made in Germany these days and soon Saab may not be building cars in their native country.  This is business without sentiment and the only value of heritage and history is its use in marketing.  Its not pretty, but its the way of the world whether we agree with it or not.

Edited to remove objectionable language, please read the forum guidelines

Goldryder wrote: Dergside wrote:   Rolls Royces are being substantially made in Germany erm...sorry to argue here but since when has Goodwood been in Germany, there is a state of the art factory built partially underground for environmental reasons churning out Rollers quite nicely, and they are going from strength to strength.

To quote BMW World "Final assembly occurs at the energy-efficient Goodwood factory in southern England."

Dergside wrote: MGR sales projections have been hopelessly optimistic since the Phoenix consortium got involved. Don't misunderstand me here, I would dearly like to see MGR suceed and become a major force once again, but as long as they continue to bury their head in the sand about the root and extent of their problems then there will be no recovery and eventually they will be absorbed into the "merged" entity and lose their own identity.

I doubt that the sales projections for china are too optomistic. The Chinese company (forgotten their name!  ) is positioning itself to take advantage of the rapidly expanding car market over there. I suspect that being based in China they will work out a lot cheaper than imported cars such as BMWs (I also wouldn't put it past the Chinese to to increase the tax on imported cars to help sales)  

As for  "merged" entity that looses it's identity? how is this any different from when GM bought Saab, or Ford bought Jaguar? Most cars companies are owned by large multinationals and most have kept their identity.

The thing we do need to worry about from China is that as they start to buy more cars they will need more petrol and hence more oil. This will put strain on the existing oil supplies and force up the price, or at least keep it at levels that it is currently at today.

Goldryder wrote: There is absolutely no reason whatsoever why the latest merger with the UK and China will not go right and in time prosper for both countries.

My sentiments exactly

Peter Fenwick wrote: As for  "merged" entity that looses it's identity? how is this any different from when GM bought Saab, or Ford bought Jaguar? Most cars companies are owned by large multinationals and most have kept their identity.

Peter, that is debateable.  Many people say that Saab has lost its way in recent years, e.g. the 900 from 1993 on.  Look at the fact that in the US Scoobie estate are being rebadged as Saab - and may be sold in Europe too.  There is a very real possibility that the days Saab production in their native country are numbered.

Their badges may have survived, but in many cases the values and heritage of the brands have been diluted or abandoned as part of a large multinational.

The point is that, like it or not, this is the way the industry is going.  I admire the sense of optimism that MGR will become better and have the chance to deliver on its values and heritage, but I don't hold it.  What it will probably deliver is an increase in the number of MGR badged cars out there. 

If they do deliver the expectation of 800k cars per year, will the number built in the UK grow significantly from where they are now or will they be built in more efficient, green field factories where labour is more flexible and less costly?

I'm NOT having a pop at MGR workers, they do their jobs like I try to do mine.