48 replies to this topic

[nurseholliday]

I heard from somewhere that Rover had designed and developed the new Mini, then BMW had taken it over and made millions on it!

If rover had released that mini they would still be in business!

Try reading the thread maybe?

[maxlima]

Digressing a little, what happened to the BMC/BL marques like Riley, Wolseley, Austin, Morris, etc? Do the new Rover owners have them or does BMW? Or are they dead and buried?

[Haynes Emmanuelle]

.....i'm sure I saw one or two ex-Rover Directors on a yacht in the med........

was that on the loan advert.

[taffy1967]

Plus a BINI isn't a Mini, it's just a small/mid-sized Beamer.

So it doesn't sell on being particularly revolutionary or inspiring. Nor has it exceeded beyond all expectations in Motorsport (like the real thing!)

No it's just a BMW and that's why people buy them.

If they were being made at Longbridge and sold via Rover showrooms, then I bet few would be interested.

Plus even then, it would still be regarded as nothing more than a replacement Metro, regardless of what badges are stuck on it.

So BMW might be flying high at the moment, but they've got a very long way to fall.

Edited by taffy1967, 05 September 2008 - 11:28 AM.

[v21ash]

Digressing a little, what happened to the BMC/BL marques like Riley, Wolseley, Austin, Morris, etc? Do the new Rover owners have them or does BMW? Or are they dead and buried?

Doesn't the British Motor Heritage own all the marques now? Except MINI and Clubman? I could be wrong.

Plus a BINI isn't a Mini, it's just a small/mid-sized Beamer.

So it doesn't sell on being particularly revolutionary or inspiring. Nor has it exceeded beyond all expectations in Motorsport (like the real thing!)

No it's just a BMW and that's why people buy them.

If they were being made at Longbridge and sold via Rover showrooms, then I bet few would be interested.

Plus even then, it would still be regarded as nothing more than a replacement Metro, regardless of what badges are stuck on it.

So BMW might be flying high at the moment, but they've got a very long way to fall.

Couldn't agree more.

[taffy1967]

Doesn't the British Motor Heritage own all the marques now? Except MINI and Clubman? I could be wrong.

Well they don't own Traveller or Countryman for a start and I'm pretty sure I've seen a list somewhere of all the names they bought/acquired when they dropped Rover.

[spaceoctagon]

here is a list of who owns what brand names

http://www.aronline.....htm?namesf.htm

[taffy1967]

That's the list I was thinking about.

[benb12]

I heard from somewhere that Rover had designed and developed the new Mini, then BMW had taken it over and made millions on it!

If rover had released that mini they would still be in business!

Are you under the impression that BMW stole Rover? I was under the impression that they BOUGHT it to keep it alive and make money on it. I could be completely wrong of course but I'm fairly sure Rover could have said no to BMW taking it over.

[taffy1967]

Oh yes they could, but Rover was owned by British Aerospace and they made rather a hefty profit from selling Rover to BMW.

Yes a British company sold another British company down the river.

[Ouster]

Weren't BMW also buying the debt that Rover had?

[DFulton]

Weren't BMW also buying the debt that Rover had?

I'm pretty certain that's true - otherwise the price would have been more than a token £10.

They bought a company that, a few years previously, had been a competitor (The 600 was set against the 5 series for example), made some money out of selling off the profitable bits, and tried to run in parallel for a little while with the 75. When that didn't work, they cut their losses and ran, taking the MINI brand and leaving a company that was unlikely to be any threat.

Sorry though I was to see Rover go (and particularly the end of the mini), I think it was purely business as far as BMW were concerned.

[roofless]

Weren't BMW also buying the debt that Rover had?

In PR talk yes, in reality no.

the debt in real terms upon take-over was honoured to a moderate level. those that they perceived would fold under the strain of the debt were allowed to do so, thus minimalising the liability - its common practice, string it out as long as possible and hope the debtors go into receivership - thus reducing the actual level of re-imbursement you have to levy.

sad to say the government helped them to this end so their input and assistance in finanacial terms was minimalised.

[mab01uk]

BAe bought State owned Rover off the British Government in 1988 as an ailing business for £150 million with an agreement not to sell it for at least 5 years. By the 1990's BAe was in financial trouble caused by huge losses in its civil aircraft division, taking the short term view on Rover, it started downsizing the car factories razing large parts of the huge Oxford Cowley plant to the ground with the BAe property division then selling it off for "Industrial Retail Parks". The plan was then to sell off what remained of the Rover car business to the highest bidder.
Honda was only interested in an increased (47.5%) share while BMW were prepared to pay £800 million in cash and so took over in March 1994. They promised to spend £450 million a year on development instead of BAe's £200 million a year, much of it for a new Mini.
BMW had identified the Mini as a priceless brand like "Coca Cola" or "Nike" and were determined to revive it back to a top selling car and were amazed when Rover chiefs said "when we can't keep the Mini legal, we're going to let it run down." Rover had told BMW there was no business case for doing a new Mini as the profit margins were tiny on a small car without massive (for Rover Group) production volumes."
It has been said since that no-one in Rover management had a feeling for how valuable the Mini brand could once again be but thankfully BMW had faith in the Mini as an iconic British brand, the development money to invest and (unlike Rover) a worldwide Dealership sales and service network already in place, especially in the essential USA market where Rover had not exported cars for many years.
If BMW could not save the rest of Rover with the cash they invested, could anyone else have?
Likewise after BMW, Ford also spent a fortune trying to revive Land Rover and of course Jaguar but recently sold both of them to Tata India.............

[yorkshirechris]

I dont know where this fits in but besides the obvious selling of the Mini brand to a German company what do people think of the fact more and more British manufacturing companies like Rover etc are being sold to companies abroad?

Fair enough saying they're keeping brands alive etc but they're not doing the country any favours when everything is being outsourced and nothing is "Made in England" anymore?