18 replies to this topic

[farmersredhotmini]

Looking at some old press reports about the BMW corporation buying out rover in 1994 I could not help but have the fallowing thought, the so called classic mini went out of production in 1999 does this mean that any mini purchased between 1994-1999 was technically a bmw product and engineering

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[THE ANORAK]

yep !!!

[rendersonique]

Looking at some old press reports about the BMW corporation buying out rover in 1994 I could not help but have the fallowing thought, the so called classic mini went out of production in 1999 does this mean that any mini purchased between 1994-1999 was technically a bmw product and engineering

I wouldn't say so. Its deffo british engineering. How could it all of a sudden become a german achivement? ITS BRITISH ENGINEERING!!

[Retro_10s]

Does this mean that any mini purchased between 1994-1999 was technically a bmw product and engineering

Certainly does!

How could it all of a sudden become a german achivement

I think you totally missed the point there -

** Did BMW slap a BMW badge on the MPi and claim it as their own design when they had a lot to do with its development? no
** Did they take it over to Germany to build? no.
** Did they Say anything at all to suggest that it was their Acheivement that they were keeping an already very much failing brand alive for a few extra years? no.

They let RoverGroup take the credit for the MPi etc, and the British engineers that built them.

Was the design and everything that came with it owned by BMW at that time - yes it was - But that's all - and they certainly didn't adertise/brag or claim anypart of it as a German achievement.

[Asphalt]

It's purely british! The MPI injection system was developed by Rover engineers, I think by about 1992. But BMW gave the green light to finaly utilize it, since they needed to stick to strickter emission laws.

[mab01uk]

Mike Theaker's (BMW/Rover Engine Development Engineer) account of the Mini MPI development story from an old Miniworld article below explains how it was BMW's will and John Cooper's insistence that finally got the MPI into production in 1996, extending the Mini's life by 4 more years to 2000. Mike Theaker also later worked on powertrain development for the New MINI.
Mike Theaker on the Development of the Twin Point Injection system for the Mini.
Link to PDF below:
http://www.miniestat..._technology.pdf
(September 2000 Miniworld)

[THE ANORAK]

was the car...

technically a bmw product ?

yes it was, get over it people

[mab01uk]

was the car...

technically a bmw product ?

yes it was, get over it people

Which is why it always makes makes me smile when I see "100% BMW Free" on the back of any 1994 on Minis, manufactured under BMW Group, especially 1996-2000 MPI's / Sportpacks which would never even have existed under Rover managements original plans to end production in '96!

Edited by mab01uk, 24 June 2009 - 07:47 PM.

[mattwho?]

when in 94 did this hapen?
mine is registerd jan 94 lol lets hope im not goose stepin to the english beat lol

[mab01uk]

when in 94 did this hapen?
mine is registerd jan 94 lol lets hope im not goose stepin to the english beat lol

Negotiations took place through the winter of 1993/1994, the deal finally went public in February 1994 and became official in March 1994 when BMW's Bernd Pischetsrieder (Alec Issigonis cousin) took control of Rover.
(BMW paid £800 million cash to BAe who had bought Rover for only £150 millon off the British government in 1988).

[MiniMonty]

If Anorak (and others) are right then the new Jag is an Indian achievement.
Most recent Saabs are an American achievement, cheap flights are an Irish achievement
and Harrods is an Egyptian shop.

International commerce can see a well known brand change hands from Brazilian to Australian
ownership in minutes - but the factory stays still and the people working in it don't start using a new language.
Note that Fiat have just bought a huge chunk of Chrysler.

BMW may have bought the bricks and mortar of the buildings, the brands and badges and body shapes - but the Mini
is as quintessentially British as the Beatles, the white cliffs, Big Ben and an underlying desire to invade France.

Isn't it the case that about a quarter of all (old style) VW Beetles were actually made in Brazil ?
It's Germany's ultimate icon (after that jagged sign we all like to forget) but would have never happened if it
weren't for the Marshall plan (by an American General) and the inspired efforts of a British Major after the war
to get the factory going. So the first post-war VW bugs were built in Germany - by Germans - under British Military management.
Is the Beetle therefore an Ministry of Defence product ?
Of course not.

I think my point is that it matters not who owns the lease - it's the work that goes on inside - and who it's actually done by
that counts if you get into placing a brand or a product with a certain nation.

So was it technically a BMW product - no - they just bought the rights to a British classic which, let's face it, had has it's day.

I just wonder who'll buy the NHS... (please don't let it be Fiat)

Best wishes
Monty

[mab01uk]

.........and despite what many seem to think, the new MINI was mostly designed by Rover engineers and is still built today in an ex-Rover factory in Oxford by a British workforce.

[shedonwheels]

Yep. My '99 is "technically" a bmw mini. It even says bmw in tiny letters right at the bottom of the back cover of the buyers guide for the late mpi (one with the orange cover). Does it really matter? nope. I might buy a sticker that says 100% bmw parts.

[THE ANORAK]

If Anorak (and others) are right then the new Jag is an Indian achievement.
Most recent Saabs are an American achievement, cheap flights are an Irish achievement
and Harrods is an Egyptian shop.

well your not really reading what we are say (or we are not saying it right). it's doesn't suddenly become a BMW achievement but IT IS a BMW product

[998dave]

If Anorak (and others) are right then the new Jag is an Indian achievement.
Most recent Saabs are an American achievement, cheap flights are an Irish achievement
and Harrods is an Egyptian shop.

Hang on, Jag, Aston Martin, Volvo, Land Rover and Range Rovers had been Fords for years, that doesn't make them all American, does it?
And before that Volvo were Mitsubishi's?

I think you're getting a bit carried away with the idea here. The company was owned by BMW, but that doesn't automatically make it a BMW.

Dave