News rover and tata are in very critical talks in india.
rover want preice reduced, tata quite correctly are not budging and sticking to original agreement.
serves rover directors right for trying to sell a rug as a couch. (strange example i know!)
Surely a indica estate would sell in far greater numbers.
what price do MG Rover want to reduce it to?
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My info, not revealling source, is that the Chinese option is by far the more likely, and would also better help MGR serve this massive market.
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what exactly is the chinese option?
sell the company off (well 60%)
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"what exactly is the chinese option?
sell the company off (well 60%)"
Or sell them one and within a month they'll have their copy in production?
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Rover is just as badly run now as it was during the Leyland days,
What a shame, how the mighty fall.
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I'm not optimistic. Since their marketing - and pricing - was so bad on the City Rover, what chance have they of gettong any new model design right?
ST is quite right..:-(
madf
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I met the MG Rover people at the motor show, they denied there was a problem with the 1.8K series engine, they tried to tell me the rover 75 was a new model.
Why can't they face facts, 1.get a new engine, 2. reassure the public with either a 3 year unlimited mileage warranty or a 5 year 100,000 mile warranty. 3. Sell cars at a more realistic price trough the dealers instead of dumping at car super markets. 4.Do a partnership deal with a manufacturer that we in britain have confidence in, not Tata, or some Chinese company.
5. if they can't do this then pack up making cars.
Why does MG-Rover go from crisis to crisis, it just needs to make a good car, stop all the bad press about directors pensions, concentrate on a few really good models. I thought they had it right with the 75, then the pooh started with the 1.8 engine, the diesel is mismatched to the gear box and needs chipping to give decent performance, they cut down on silly things like the rear seats don't fold in the se. Its Mondeo spec maybe less but priced to BMW levels which it isn't.
May be they should just give up as they just can't get it together.
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Let's face it, MG-R have no chance of pulling it round. The latest SMMT figures show that they sold just 30 cars per day during July and August. That's about an hour's worth of production.
How on earth can the 300 dealers survive on volumes that low?
There is no realistic prospect of any new models for at least a couple of years, the MG bubble has surely burst and nobody wants a City Rover. The only decent model, the 75, competes in the most image conscious sector of the market and while it is undoubtedly a good car can't hope to compete against a new 3 series and an updated A4.
I would not put my money into their products, new or secondhand as I would not be confident that there would still be a dealer network or parts back-up in 12 month's time.
There is over capacity in production of cars as it is in Europe and the cost base compared to India, China or the Asian pacific companies makes it a completely unrealistic prospect to invest in new tooling for the volume of cars MG-R would make.
The company needed to land a platform sharing deal within 12 months of splitting from BMW in order to survive. Three or four years later they still don't seem to be any further forward.
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I agree, the boat has been missed. The range needs replacing very soon, except for the MG TF. Clearly this isn't going to happen unless the company is uncannily good at keeping secrets from the press. The concept car that has been touted around as the basis of a new mid-range model is ghastly. It combines Ford Focus 'new edge' styling (that has been toned down in the latest, prettier Focus) with art deco and Soviet brutalist architecture.
Cheers, Sofa Spud
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When they took over from BMW, they should have teamed up with a 'developing world' producer and rebadged and restyled someone elses cars to European tastes, with extra sound deadening, chrome and nice trim etc... Instead, it has been used as the goose that lays the golden egg by the top people.
I too agree it's doomed, unless someone else foolishly buys it.
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>>I would not put my money into their products, new or secondhand as I would not be confident that there would still be a dealer network or parts back-up in 12 month's time.
I may have been inclinded to agree, however public and the trade alike have been saying this since their split from BMW 4 years ago and MG-Rover is still here fighting and kicking with some of the best cars they have made..
I remember my insurance company charged me far more than they should have done a couple of years ago because of parts shortages and the fact that there may no longer be a dealer network in the near future (It was my mate who I bought the policy off and he relayed what he had been briefed!!)
Strangely, I am now paying 60% less than I was then for the same car with only two years no claims bonus..
The trade are beginning to realise how good some of their products are and shifting the MG saloons at a far quicker rate than the average Vecta/Mondeo.
As for the 75 being unreliable with the K series engines....Why is is consistently one of the most reliable cars in the UK???
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Does anyone buy MGR cars anymore?
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I've got a hire car this week. I ordered a Vectra/Mondeo class vehicle but ended up with a brand new (6 miles old) MG ZT CDTi (which is very good BTW). The guy at the hire car company (Enterprise in Stevenage) said they'd have 7 ZTs delivered that morning. So MGR are obviously dumping cars out at hefty discounts if companies like Enterprise are buying them instead of Vectras.
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Does anyone buy MGR cars anymore?
Oh yes. 30 people a day. From 300 dealers. So each dealer, on average sells a car every 10 days. Which is why many are changing to other brands.
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Several people have said in here how bad the rover dealers are in not being interested in selling you a car in the first place. Perhaps the lack of sales can partly be blamed on disinterested dealers?
If I were in charge at MG-Rover I'd be ditching all but a few dealers and doing sales via the internet exclusively. I'd also handle all the servicing and repairs that way and have a collect & return service for major work and maybe some sort of arrangement with someone like Halfords or Kwik Fit for routine servicing. The few decent dealers would get all the repair work and be a decent showroom so people could have a good look at the cars. If the dealers were spread far enough and strategically enough most people should be within an hour of a dealer.
teabelly
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I'd apply for the job, if I were you teabelly. That's the first decent idea "they"'ve had for a long time.
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Recently I was at an MGR auction where there were about 20 75's and ZT's all about 6-12 months old, ex MGR management cars.
Basically they couldn't give them away. Not one sold, many received no bids at all, this from a room full of Rover dealers.
The only cars they wanted to buy were 25 Diesels.
My dad was a Rover dealer until they reduced from 1100 to 300 dealers some years ago. His sales breakdown was roughly 40% metro/rover 100, 30% 200/25 19% 400/45 and 1% 600/800/75.
Some people he had sold dozens of cars to over the years, they never even considered buying another brand.
For some years after he made a good living selling second hand rovers to his old clients but even in his conservative rural backwater his customers shied away from the marque as newer and better models appeared from the other manufacturers. Only very occasionaly will he have a Rover, usually a 25 diesel, on his forecourt. Where they had metros they now drive Clios or Yaris's, the 200/400 owners are all now driving Astras, The 600 drivers now have Passats or A4's.
My point is that Rover have lost its customer base. Sure they might be able to offload a field full of 75's to rental fleets who will sell them after 3-6 months at enormous discounts but anybody looking to keep a car for longer than that, private or corporate would be mad to put their money into MGR.
If you had £12,000 to spend on a 5 door hatch would you look at a Rover 45 ? More to the point if in 12 months time you had £12,000 to spend would you look at a 45 because that's all that Rover will be offering then.
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>> Does anyone buy MGR cars anymore? >> Oh yes. 30 people a day. From 300 dealers. So each dealer, on average sells a car every 10 days. Which is why many are changing to other brands.
Sorry but I can't let you get away with that analysis. The 30 cars per day figure refers to the 900-odd Rovers sold during August. It does not include cars sold under the MG brand. Yes, sales are down, but August is the quietest month of the year now, and plenty of other manufacturers had a bad month too. So, yes on average each dealer might have sold only one Rover every ten days through August, but to say that MG Rover dealers only sell one car every ten days is far from the truth.
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In Western Europe MG-Rover sold 3654 in August, last year 5008 so a 27% drop. They are the worst performing major car company in Europe by a long way.
Just add that Hyundai/Kia have grown the most (by 27.1%) and have now overtaken Nissan (one for v0n if he's reading this).
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Nobody buys MGR products because they are so dated and badly made. But prepare yourself for MGR to undertake another massive pre-registration campaign to try and convince the public that the cars are selling. Having said that I have yet to see a 54 plate MGR product.
With Land Rover and (to a certain extent) Jaguar having set out plans for the future, one wonders where MGR see themselves in a couple of years ...
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Following the motor show I was contacted by MG-R to take part in a test drive, I accepted providing I could have a ZT for 24 hours, no problem. Picked up the car, they didn't even want to see my drivers licience, off I went. took the car back, the sales man took the keys and said thanks for that and walked off. I didn't even get chance to ask how much my car was in part ex.they just assumed i wouldn't want it.
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So whats better flatfour, your Hyundai or the ZT ?
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Well Puppetland, there's a 54 reg 75 two doors down from me. It's parked very close to my excellent and %100 reliable ZT. My car is much admired at work (a Police Traffic Dept) and everybody who's driven it agrees it has a fantastic chassis. I have no connection with MG-Rover, but I would suggest you see how many more MG Forums you can be thrown off!!
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Having your car admired in the office car park is sweet. But will those same people dip into their own pockets and buy one.
I think not.
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It seems even the MG-Rover fans have given up on them, have a look at the 17th September Blog at www.austin-rover.co.uk
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"Drove an MG ZT 260 manual on Wednesday. The back end clonked. The radio kept switching itself off and on."
When I test drove a 75 it had loads of similar niggling faults. That's simply unthinkable on a Toyota or Lexus demonstrator.
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The only reply I can give is that my previous VW Passat was a dog. In nearly two years of enjoyable motoring my ZT hasn't failed and doesn't so much as issue a squeak. It's a great car.
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I saw the latest MG cosmetic mod on the M42 the other day on the Rover 400 hatchback circa 1996 whatever it is called now. It has gills in the front wings, looks like someone has taken a jigsaw to it. I found it desperately sad they way they keep warming up these left over meals from the nineties. This maxpower'd stuff has been done to death by them. The 75MG and the TF look ok but the other stuff is so old and obviously spammed over it really is quite sad. I live in the midlands and hope they can pull through in some guise but I can't see it. Jaguar quality/product investment has gone through the roof and it is still closing browns lane. The lazy so and sos at Land Rover lode lane need to pull their fingers out, world class product (mk3) built by people who can't be bothered. With all the recent publicity would you spend £60k on a car you know has been built by disgruntled workers...no me neither, and I owned a p38 ranger rover an experience not to be repeated.
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I saw the latest MG cosmetic mod on the M42 the other day on the Rover 400 hatchback circa 1996 whatever it is called now. It has gills in the front wings, looks like someone has taken a jigsaw to it. I found it desperately sad they way they keep warming up these left over meals from the nineties.
They looked perfectly OK the way they were, IMHO. While we're on the subject, can someone please advise what the point was in moving the number plate from boot lid to bumper on the ZR and ZS? It looks really, really odd, and the only people that I can think of who would really appreciate this are those of the boy-racer fraternity who like having their boot lids "flushed".
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Some harsh comments about the MG restyling exercise on the 25/45/75 here. In the case of the first two especially, they were specifically designed to appeal to the younger enthusiast on a budget, and that's exactly what they have done over the last few years. As for the ZT, it's a very handsome car by any standards and only crosses the line into naffness dressed in day-glo yellow with tea-tray boot spoiler.
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which is the best auction house to pick up a 2.5/3 year old 1.4 or 2.0 diesel rover 45?
am i right to presume BCA birmingham?
how much with say 50k on the clock for either - bottom of the range is fine. im a bit clueless on rover pricing.
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Some harsh comments about the MG restyling exercise on the 25/45/75 here. In the case of the first two especially, they were specifically designed to appeal to the younger enthusiast on a budget, and that's exactly what they have done over the last few years. As for the ZT, it's a very handsome car by any standards and only crosses the line into naffness dressed in day-glo yellow with tea-tray boot spoiler.
Agree, the original restyle looked, IMHO, very good indeed. Nearly bought one of the first ZRs myself about 3 years ago, but decided that a Seat Leon was more suitable for what I needed. It's the facelift that has just come out that has, in my view, spoilt the look of the rear ends of the ZR and ZS to no good purpose. Haven't seen a post-facelift ZT yet.
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agreed.
with the exception of 75 face lift which looks great, and the front of the 25/zr
the other changes (45/zs and 25/zr rears look horrid aka kia shuma)
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As a strong supporter of my pre-facelift ZT, I won't be buying another because the facelift has taken away the cars character.
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how does 2,800 sound for a 58k 51 plate rover 45 saloon 2.0td?
think its bottom of the rang.
is that price about right?
how many miles can i expect form the engine?
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Or how about £8795 for a 53 plate R75 1.8 SE with delivery miles?
These are cheaper than Skodas!!!
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very few 2/3 year old diesels around with reasonable mileage - must be able to take a good motorway punishing.
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The L-Series diesel in the 400/45 is virtually bullet proof and can run to some very high miles with little, if any, problems..
I've seen some very high mileage ones and 200K plus should be no trouble at all provided they are well serviced and looked after.
I used to have a 220SDi, the same engine, that had 160,000 when I swapped it for my 214si as the clutch was on its way out (original) and at the time my mileage had dropped at the time and decided a change to petrol.
The unit is not the most refined when cold however runs smooth enough when warm and is surprisingly quick off the mark, whist still returning 55+ to the gallon, pretty much regardless of how you drive it...
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