MG Rover collapses
04-15-2005, 03:07 PM
#1
Suzuka Master
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MG Rover collapses
MG Rover collapses, 5,000 workers sacked
Collapsed British-owned car maker MG Rover is making 5,000 workers redundant just three weeks before a general election.
The company's administrators announced the decision after the Chinese company at the centre of hopes to save Rover confirmed it was no longer interested in buying it.
The leader of Britain's transport workers' union, Tony Woodley, said his worst fears had been realised.
"It is the bleakest and blackest day today for the British motor industry, and indeed in its history," he said.
"In fact it is the end of the last major British manufacturing car company in our land, and that is absolutely devastating."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems...4/s1346613.htm
Collapsed British-owned car maker MG Rover is making 5,000 workers redundant just three weeks before a general election.
The company's administrators announced the decision after the Chinese company at the centre of hopes to save Rover confirmed it was no longer interested in buying it.
The leader of Britain's transport workers' union, Tony Woodley, said his worst fears had been realised.
"It is the bleakest and blackest day today for the British motor industry, and indeed in its history," he said.
"In fact it is the end of the last major British manufacturing car company in our land, and that is absolutely devastating."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems...4/s1346613.htm
04-15-2005, 03:33 PM
#2
The sizzle in the Steak
04-15-2005, 06:28 PM
#3
04-15-2005, 06:59 PM
#4
Suzuka Master
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by Loseit
We seem to be headed in the same direction. You can't win when you think your name will carry you. Complacency kills.
I imagine that within twenty years they'll be saying the same thing about American cars.
04-16-2005, 03:19 PM
#5
Race Director
Originally Posted by SpeedyV6
I imagine that within twenty years they'll be saying the same thing about American cars.The remarcable stat was that 30+ years ago Rover made 30% of the cars in the UK. Sad, just sad.
04-17-2005, 03:22 PM
#6
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Originally Posted by biker
Chrysler came back from the brink - don't count them out just yet. Yes there will be some losers (like a division each from the big three) but they'll be around for long time.
The remarcable stat was that 30+ years ago Rover made 30% of the cars in the UK. Sad, just sad.
The remarcable stat was that 30+ years ago Rover made 30% of the cars in the UK. Sad, just sad.
04-18-2005, 02:11 AM
#7
Race Director
Originally Posted by Loseit
...ummm.....you mean big 2 right? ones gone.....
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04-18-2005, 11:32 AM
#8
Senior Moderator
Originally Posted by biker
No, I mean the big 3. Chrysler is still part of big three, even if they are part of DCX.
It's still the Big 3, despite Chrysler's merger with Daimler Benz AG. I picture another brand or two of GM going away but, GM and Ford will continue to adapt to the market. And Chrysler has been resurgent since its merger with DB.
04-25-2005, 08:32 PM
#9
Moderator Alumnus
Two of Iran's state-owned auto manufacturers are considering buying MG Rover, the last major British-owned car manufacturer which collapsed this month, the semi-official ISNA student news agency said on Friday.
The 100-year-old carmaker, which once made the iconic Mini and the Land Rover, stopped production after failing to secure a rescue deal with China's Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.
"Iran Khodro and SAIPA are considering taking over Britain's Rover," ISNA quoted an unidentified official of Iran's Ministry of Industries and Mines as saying.
Iran Khodro, the Middle East's largest carmaker, has ambitious plans to produce 1 million cars a year by 2011 and has begun setting up factories in the Middle East, Africa and former Soviet states.
SAIPA is Iran's second-largest car manufacturer.
Last week British administrators said there was no hope of selling MG Rover and that just under 5,000 workers would be made redundant immediately.
"SAIPA is a couple of steps ahead of Iran Khodro in the talks," the Iranian official was quoted as saying.
The report did not specify which of MG Rover's assets the Iranian automakers were interested in purchasing.
An Iran Khodro spokesman said the company had made no approach so far for MG Rover.
"We are considering it inside the company; it is just an option," the spokesman told Reuters.
SAIPA officials could not be reached for comment.
Iran has a history of ties to the UK car industry. Its streets are packed with the ubiquitous Paykan, a carbon copy of the 1960s Hillman Hunter, which until this month was still in production at Iran Khodro.
ISNA said that a third potential buyer of MG Rover was Dastaan, which is owned by an Iranian politician from the south-eastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan.
London's Daily Telegraph reported on Thursday that senior British officials had held various meetings with the Iranian government since early 2004 over plans by Dastaan to assemble some 150,000 MG Rover cars a year in Iran.
It said Dastaan got cold feet about an initial trial shipment of fully assembled Rover vehicles when it learned the extent of Rover's financial problems.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...=rss/worldNews
The 100-year-old carmaker, which once made the iconic Mini and the Land Rover, stopped production after failing to secure a rescue deal with China's Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.
"Iran Khodro and SAIPA are considering taking over Britain's Rover," ISNA quoted an unidentified official of Iran's Ministry of Industries and Mines as saying.
Iran Khodro, the Middle East's largest carmaker, has ambitious plans to produce 1 million cars a year by 2011 and has begun setting up factories in the Middle East, Africa and former Soviet states.
SAIPA is Iran's second-largest car manufacturer.
Last week British administrators said there was no hope of selling MG Rover and that just under 5,000 workers would be made redundant immediately.
"SAIPA is a couple of steps ahead of Iran Khodro in the talks," the Iranian official was quoted as saying.
The report did not specify which of MG Rover's assets the Iranian automakers were interested in purchasing.
An Iran Khodro spokesman said the company had made no approach so far for MG Rover.
"We are considering it inside the company; it is just an option," the spokesman told Reuters.
SAIPA officials could not be reached for comment.
Iran has a history of ties to the UK car industry. Its streets are packed with the ubiquitous Paykan, a carbon copy of the 1960s Hillman Hunter, which until this month was still in production at Iran Khodro.
ISNA said that a third potential buyer of MG Rover was Dastaan, which is owned by an Iranian politician from the south-eastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan.
London's Daily Telegraph reported on Thursday that senior British officials had held various meetings with the Iranian government since early 2004 over plans by Dastaan to assemble some 150,000 MG Rover cars a year in Iran.
It said Dastaan got cold feet about an initial trial shipment of fully assembled Rover vehicles when it learned the extent of Rover's financial problems.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...=rss/worldNews
04-30-2005, 03:42 PM
#10
Suzuka Master
Thread Starter
As Rover's Prospects Fade, It Sends Its Factory Work Force Home
As Rover's Prospects Fade, It Sends Its Factory Work Force Home
LONDON, April 11 - The future looks bleak for the MG Rover Group, Britain's last major carmaker.
On Monday, the company's 6,000 factory workers were sent home, and officials said there were no immediate plans to resume production. In addition, Rover's onetime partner, the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, made clear that it would not step in to halt the breakup of the company.
MG Rover filed for bankruptcy court protection on Friday, after a deal with Shanghai Automotive fell through.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting and consulting firm that is acting as MG Rover's bankruptcy administrator, confirmed the car company's dire financial straits on Monday morning. MG Rover is losing an estimated £20 million to £25 million ($38 million to $47 million) a month, Pricewaterhouse said, several times its £77 million pretax loss for all of 2003, the last full year for which figures are available. Still, Pricewaterhouse said, it hoped to reopen talks with Shanghai Automotive.
"We now seek to engage in discussions with S.A.I.C. as soon as possible," a PricewaterhouseCoopers partner, Tony Lomas, said.
But Shanghai Automotive was quick to discourage such hopes. "It is highly unlikely that S.A.I.C. will become reinvolved with MG while it is in administration," a Shanghai Automotive spokesman in London, Rupert Pittman, said. "Purchasing it out of administration in its current form is not an option that we're considering at the moment."
MG Rover said in November that it would team up with Shanghai Automotive in a deal that could generate £1 billion in investments. Shanghai Automotive has paid £67 million so far for some intellectual property rights, but decided that it would not go ahead with a deal when MG Rover could not guarantee that it would remain solvent for two years.
There was a bright spot. Phoenix Venture Holdings, an investment group that owns MG Rover, said on Monday evening that it had offered PricewaterhouseCoopers £49 million to help keep the company going. A spokeswoman for Pricewaterhouse, Jenny Britton, would not confirm the offer but said it was "not a solution" to the company's problems.
The British government is still trying to save an estimated 25,000 jobs in the Midlands, where the carmaker and most of its suppliers are based. Partners from PricewaterhouseCoopers talked on Monday with a representative from the Department of Trade and Industry at Longbridge, Birmingham, MG Rover's headquarters, about securing additional funds. Labor unions expect those talks to last through the week, but representatives were not optimistic that job cuts could be prevented.
Prime Minister Tony Blair, campaigning in the nation's May 5 general election, said at a news conference on Monday that the government was doing its best to save MG Rover but added "not that everything in the economy is always good."
On Saturday, the British government gave MG Rover a £6.5 million loan ($12.2 million), enough to keep the company running for a week. It said it would make £40 million more available to MG Rover's suppliers.
Automotive specialists said the company's chances of survival were minimal. "Do you believe in miracles?" asked Prof. Peter Cook of Nottingham Trent University's automotive management school.
Many MG Rover employees have worked at the company or its predecessors for their entire careers, Professor Cook added, so they will have to be taught to find other jobs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/12/au...rint&position=
LONDON, April 11 - The future looks bleak for the MG Rover Group, Britain's last major carmaker.
On Monday, the company's 6,000 factory workers were sent home, and officials said there were no immediate plans to resume production. In addition, Rover's onetime partner, the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, made clear that it would not step in to halt the breakup of the company.
MG Rover filed for bankruptcy court protection on Friday, after a deal with Shanghai Automotive fell through.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting and consulting firm that is acting as MG Rover's bankruptcy administrator, confirmed the car company's dire financial straits on Monday morning. MG Rover is losing an estimated £20 million to £25 million ($38 million to $47 million) a month, Pricewaterhouse said, several times its £77 million pretax loss for all of 2003, the last full year for which figures are available. Still, Pricewaterhouse said, it hoped to reopen talks with Shanghai Automotive.
"We now seek to engage in discussions with S.A.I.C. as soon as possible," a PricewaterhouseCoopers partner, Tony Lomas, said.
But Shanghai Automotive was quick to discourage such hopes. "It is highly unlikely that S.A.I.C. will become reinvolved with MG while it is in administration," a Shanghai Automotive spokesman in London, Rupert Pittman, said. "Purchasing it out of administration in its current form is not an option that we're considering at the moment."
MG Rover said in November that it would team up with Shanghai Automotive in a deal that could generate £1 billion in investments. Shanghai Automotive has paid £67 million so far for some intellectual property rights, but decided that it would not go ahead with a deal when MG Rover could not guarantee that it would remain solvent for two years.
There was a bright spot. Phoenix Venture Holdings, an investment group that owns MG Rover, said on Monday evening that it had offered PricewaterhouseCoopers £49 million to help keep the company going. A spokeswoman for Pricewaterhouse, Jenny Britton, would not confirm the offer but said it was "not a solution" to the company's problems.
The British government is still trying to save an estimated 25,000 jobs in the Midlands, where the carmaker and most of its suppliers are based. Partners from PricewaterhouseCoopers talked on Monday with a representative from the Department of Trade and Industry at Longbridge, Birmingham, MG Rover's headquarters, about securing additional funds. Labor unions expect those talks to last through the week, but representatives were not optimistic that job cuts could be prevented.
Prime Minister Tony Blair, campaigning in the nation's May 5 general election, said at a news conference on Monday that the government was doing its best to save MG Rover but added "not that everything in the economy is always good."
On Saturday, the British government gave MG Rover a £6.5 million loan ($12.2 million), enough to keep the company running for a week. It said it would make £40 million more available to MG Rover's suppliers.
Automotive specialists said the company's chances of survival were minimal. "Do you believe in miracles?" asked Prof. Peter Cook of Nottingham Trent University's automotive management school.
Many MG Rover employees have worked at the company or its predecessors for their entire careers, Professor Cook added, so they will have to be taught to find other jobs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/12/au...rint&position=
04-30-2005, 06:45 PM
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Originally Posted by SpeedyV6
I imagine that within twenty years they'll be saying the same thing about American cars.
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