Why did rover go bust

[neilll]

hi,
just my 2pence worth why rover / mg went bust.after sorting my number plate lights out yesterday,every person involved in that diabolical design needs shooting! does anyone disagree ?

[Ros3]

Why Rover went bust is an easy question to answer. No one bought there car's. Simple

[capese21]

Why Rover went bust is an easy question to answer. No one bought there car's. Simple

They must have sold some as there are still nearly million on the road

http://forum.brit-cars.com/showthread.php?t=9550

[Brabus]

Originally Posted by neilll

hi,
just my 2pence worth why rover / mg went bust.after sorting my number plate lights out yesterday,every person involved in that diabolical design needs shooting! does anyone disagree ?

Yep when you compare it to changing a head light bulb in a renault modus

[Tim_Burgess]

Originally Posted by philjudo

Allegro V Escort. Marina V Cortina. Montego V Sierra. Metro V Fiesta. 800 V Granada.

One company listening and investing and the other plodding on blindly turning out in most cases inferior vehicles IMHO . Not so long ago but so much could have been done, All the early warning signs were there and little effective action was taken. And thats just a Ford comparison. Staying with Honda would have been IMO the best decision and they would probably still be in business now. No 75s but at least there would have been upwards of 3500 jobs saved.

Agreed - up to a point. Although I think BL / Austin Rover / MGR's complete lack of understanding about marketing comes in to it as well. Their advetising could be toe-curlingly bad.

I had MK3 Escort and Sierra Sapphire; they could be junk too, just well marketed junk.

As far as the 800 v Granada thing, 800 was the best selling car in its class comfortably outselling the Granada and the Vauxhall Carlton / Omega during its life. Having owned 2 800s and had long term tests in both Granada and Omega IMO the 800 was the most pleasant one to live with.

Why did MGR go bust -

1. Bad management
2. Poor marketing
3. Beancounters overuling engineers during the Aerospace years
4. Asset stripping by British Aerospace and BMW
5. The great British public's belief that German is best.
6. Investing money in pointless high end projects instead of a 45 replacement during the P4 years.

Only my opinion, obviously.

[whitevanman]

Originally Posted by tariq

The paradox is that Jap car makers got a terrible press from day 1 - but it didn't seem to affect their sales

My dad was always a Citroen man (weirdo) however when my mum wanted a car he ended up buying her a new datsun 120Y in about 77. She liked it, we hated it...Tried to trade in for a ford/rover etc 2 yrs later and no one wanted it. Datsun took it back and gave us a small fortune for it against a 160J SSS. Which was much better than the 1.6 capri.(IMO)

That's how they conquered the world and destroyed the opposition, repeat sales on reliable economical cars.

Funny?? Dad sells his CX to a mate then goes to get a Mk2 BX1916v sooperdooper thingy, picks me up on his way home from work still with ink on his hands and overall trousers on, specs it up to the eyeballs, leather, leccy roof all the bits.

At the end saleman offers a BIG discount on the price to get the sale and then says and how many years would you like that over sir?

Dad says "credit, **** off, just write down how much you need and my boy will bring it in on Monday".. I think from memory it was about 12K or more

Salesmans chin hits the floor as obviously he was going to recoup his discount on the credit....Ooops...Bet he wasn't Mr popular with the boss.