Regards, Ivan
Posted on 02/22/2005 11:41:43 PM PST by MadIvan
Chancellor Gordon Brown has promised to do everything possible to secure an MG Rover tie-up which could save 6,000 jobs.
Mr Brown met the Chinese premier Wen Jiabao and finance minister Jin Renqing to push the case for the partnership between MG Rover and Shanghai Automotive Industry Group.
The deal with the state-owned car company is seen as the last chance to safeguard the future of Rover's West Midlands plant and its 6,000 workers.
Shanghai Automotive's proposed £1 billion investment in Rover is awaiting approval by its owner, the Shanghai city government, and by the National Development and Reform Commission, which oversees foreign investment by Chinese firms.
Speaking from China, Mr Brown said: "Both the Chinese and the British governments will do what they can.
"In Britain's case, we are very supportive of this partnership.
"The talks are designed to safeguard and maintain large numbers of jobs in the British car industry.
"I think the partnership that is proposed is important to the future of Rover in the Midlands in particular. We will do what we can to make this partnership a successful one.
"It is a matter mainly for private commercial negotiations. But we are trying our best to be of as much help as possible."
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
There are times when I wonder if anyone is still around that might understand what you just said. There is very little evidence of it, and our futures undoubtedly depend on it.
You'd think Britain might show a little pride and do something to help MG Rover be more profitable - lower taxes, sell-off a few of Prince Charles' houses, perhaps?
They're not selling MG Rover now either. China will own 70% of a Joint Venture, MGR 30%. The real family jewelry being sold is China's unbridled access to Rover's product development expertise, which is on a bang for buck basis unrivalled in the auto industry.
I share your lamentation. The WOT has too many distracted from a larger, more ominous and insidious threat. World War IV is currently being staged not on the sands of Persia but on a global economic front.
Land Rover is owned by BMW. This is the MG and Rover car line.
Regards, Ivan
What if the city of Arkhangelsk had proposed in 1979 to buy Chrysler at the height of its problems? Do you think even President Carter would have allowed this, much less enouraged it?
Because previously German management hasn't made it right, British management hasn't made it right, the Japanese don't want it - this is basically the last option to save these jobs. I do understand the rationale, even if I don't approve of it. I would rather it was sold to the French than the Chinese.
What if the city of Arkhangelsk had proposed in 1979 to buy Chrysler at the height of its problems? Do you think even President Carter would have allowed this, much less enouraged it?
Yes, but that was President Carter in a nutshell.
Regards, Ivan
You're a couple of years behind the times. Ford owns Land Rover, as well as Jaguar and Aston-Martin. BMW owns Rolls-Royce and Audi owns Bentley. I think the only independant British marque left may be Morgan.
While everyone makes an interesting argument for not selling - do you not see the stupidy of this by the Chinese? When was the last time the english made a good car that sold around the world - besides the Rover in Africa? Rover and MG ahve been dead for years. BMW revived the Morris but for what end?
TVR and AC Cobra (can't remember about Aston Martin). And most of F1.
The UK is, in fact, the EU's largest volume car producer. Its just that the cars are Toyotas, Hondas and Nissans. Even Ford and GM have downgraded the UK (Luton closed for example).
Too many governments regard having an indigenous car industry as a symbol of industrial virility, when in fact it is nothing of the sort. Hence the French support of 2 volume producers, the Italian support of Fiat and Brown's grovelling to the Chinese to keep Rover (and it's voters) afloat whearas as far as I am concerned Longbridge is a dinasaur which should have been closed years ago.
What should worry Brown is not the Birmingham rust belt but the likelihood that Hyundai or Honda would now locate new Euro-plant in Poland or Slovakia instead of the UK as the result of the rigidities that Brown has drip-fed into the UK labour market and business environment. Some hope.
Despite BMW's best efforts Rovers look like they were designed by a soviet of design commissars as part of the 1987 five year plan and unless the Chinese are stumping up large scale Yuan then Rover is doomed and there is no point prolonging the agony.
The brits need to get the MG back as a sports car in the US. I'm still driving MG's (a 1962 MGB, a 1960 MGA) and my Jag. I'd snap up a new MG in a heartbeat. It would sell well. just look how well the Miata did. of course, China's emerging market is huge, but who says you can't export to both?
Sorry, but I don't know much about the English car industry. My concern is not so much the particulars of the industry that is being bought, it's that the buyer is a municipality of a totalitarian state.
That to me is the same as, say, the Soviet port city of Arkhangelsk in 1979 purchasing Chrysler when it was in such dire straits.
The analogy is not all that far off the mark since Chrysler's products at the time were pretty bad (imho), and it ended up that the U.S. taxpayer bailed the company out -- but even the abysmal President Carter would never have permitted a city of the Soviet Union to buy the struggling carmaker, much less offer it to them.
I remember the huge scandals when certain products were sold to the Soviet Union -- even selling grain to the Soviets was a big deal -- and selling a whole U.S. carmaker would have been unthinkable.
The problem with all the old great cars the Brits made, was they didn't do anything to make their cars work for areas other than England. For example, air conditioning. And their marketing sucked. Triumphs, MG, Austin Healy, Cooper....It's a shame, they were all cool cars.
As to the long term history, what expansion do we see in their past? They seem to be more concerned with interal matters than running around the world. Give them 10 years of democracy and they will move back inside their borders.
I believe that is true.
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