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. News 2001 . | NEWS |
October 2001
ROVER'S OLYMPIC IMPRESSION SEs
Rover has announced a range of 'Olympic Impression' Special Editions that feature additional levels of equipment over the popular 25 and 45s. All Olympic Impression SEs feature Olympic 'Team GB' and 'Impression' livery .
Potential customers visiting Rover showrooms before October 22 will qualify for a free 'Active bag'. Rover supports UK Athletics and Team GB as Official Car Supplier and is also promoting the chance to win a Rover 25 Olympic Impression SE or a trip to the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah in February 2002.
Rover 25 Olympic Impression and Olympic Impression 'S' special editions feature 15" Octet alloy wheels, remote central door locking and come in a range of sporting colours: Alumina or British Racing Green, Tahiti or Midnight Blue, Platinum Silver, Sienna Gold and Solar Red. The Olympic Impression 'S' also features air conditioning, electric front windows and a CD tuner.
The Olympic Impression 84Ps 1.4 3-door is priced at £8,740, Olympic Impression
'S' 1.4 3-door at £9,560, 5-door models are an additional £500.
Rover 45 Olympic Impression editions are available in either saloon or hatchbacks with a range of engine choices: 1.4-litre (in 5-door body style only), 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0-litre turbo diesel. All Olympic Impressions feature a range of extras including air conditioning, CD Tuner, electric front windows, electric door mirrors and come in Platinum Silver, Copperleaf Red, Solar Red, Steel Blue, Midnight Blue and British Racing Green paint finishes.
MG ROVER GROUP SEPTEMBER SALES FIGURES
MG Rover Group has published its UK sales performance for the month of September 2001:
Total Industry Volume 443,265 348,961*
September 2001 September 2000 % Change MG Rover Group 17,808 12,943 37.6 Market Share 4.02% 3.71% 0.31
(TIV*) 27.0%
A spokesperson for the company, said: "While we are encouraged by our September sales, our focus is now firmly fixed on the last quarter to deliver a good full year performance."
August 2001
Successor to Rover 45.
Reports in the press state that in 2004, a successor to the 'ageing' 45 will be released. The new car is code named RD60. It's floorpan will be derived from a cutdown version of the Rover75 and will be fitted with an updated K series engine, frontwheel drive.
The decision to use a 75 derived floorpan has been made after MG Rover failed to find a new technology partner, and decided to 'go it alone'. Initial details state that the core engine will be a 108bhp 1.6 ltr variant, probably to include re-mapped ignition and 'fluid' flywheel, as fitted to current 1.8 & V6 versions, to improve smoothness. An MG version is also very likely, fitted with a 150bhp 2.0 ltr V6 up to a 190bhp 2.5 ltr V6 with improved chassis tuning to suit. However, all versions will benefit from the improvements made whilst developing the 75 chassis.
June 2001
Italian MG Sports Car.
Longbridge workers are said to be celebrating after MG Rover announced it is to launch a new luxury sports car. MG Rover is to buy the assets of the italian subsidiary of Qvale, makers of Mangusta Sports Cars.
The new car is at present expected to be built in Italy.
Qvale, used to import MG cars in the early days because of the design and build quality and know how, now in full circle, MG Rover will have the Italian design quality plus an established american dealership, allowing it to gain immediate exposure of the MGF.
The Mangusta engine and chassis will be the basis of the new MGX80
May 2001
Rover Powertrain Supply Sorted.
Loose ends tied up in BMW deal.The loose ends have now been tied up on BMW's sale of the Rover Group. After the original sale, Rover was transferred to the Phoenix consortium in a rapid process with some items not being valued until after the sale. One of these was the Longbridge unit that supplied the Rover powertrains.
The two parties have been in arbitration over the value of this plant and the final settlement sees the plant pass to the Phoenix Consortium at the end of the month. This means that Phoenix Consortium will now be able to produce engines and transmissions for itself and third party customers. After the sale of the supplier factory, around 1,300 staff will be taken over by the new owner, who will continue to employ them there. The final agreement reached also involves a payment of £65 million to the Phoenix Consortium.
Also, this month, saw confirmation of the official launch of the 75 'estate' which will be known as a Tourer. MG Rover are expecting 30% of all 75 sales to be the new Tourer style.
April 2001.
NEW MG X Power Racing cars announced.
If you have Adobe Acrobat reader installed on your computer, read about the launch of the New MG Racing cars. Click here.
April 2001
For years the West Midlands has relied on the automotive industry to provide a strong regional economy. Then, last year, BMW threatened to withdraw from the Rover Group's Longbridge plant and the factory faced possible closure with the loss of around 55,000 jobs. This forced the powers that be to re-evaluate the region's reliability on the automotive industry and look into the possibility of branching into other markets. Although the Rover Group survived, relatively intact, the question still remained, of how to alter the focus of industry in the area?
This has resulted in the electronics industry in the West Midlands gearing up to undergo a radical transformation......In March, Steven Byers (Trade & Industry Secretary), announced the final recommendations made by the Rover Task Force! The Rover Task Force Group was originally set up with the aim to examine ways of expanding business in the West Midlands and to fill the void if the worst case had occurred and Rover had ceased to existA total of £59M has been made available to develop the groups plan."This money is key to the Government's commitment to the regional economy" said Steven Byers.Formed during the protracted & tortuous sale of Rover by BMW, the task force were charged with finding a way to lessen the regions dependence on the car industry.
As 22,000 people are employed by Rover in the West Midlands alone, the crisis at Rover last year was a threat to the stability of the entire area. The threat of closure made it clear that the region's reliance on car manufacturing in general, and the Longbridge plant in particular, made it extremely vunerable.With 100,000 jobs in the West Midlands, the automotive sector accounts for a large percentage employment in the area. The £940M employment income it generates also directly supports thousands of other jobs. (from Electronics Times 9/4/01)
February 2001
We cannot ignore MG.
The two names are inextricably intertwined; the company is now called MG Rover Group and, for the time being at least, both marques use a common platform for their vehicles.
Commenting on MG for a while, it was interesting to read the press reviews and response to the announcement and release of the 'X' family of cars. X10 (75), X20 (45) and X30 (25). MG's releases are not just a badge engineering exercise; they haven't just prised Rover badges off the cars and fitted MG in their place. No, this time, Rover seem to have learnt from the mistake of the 80's with the 'MG Montego, Maestro & Metro.The new cars, we are told, are real performance cars, with all the breath taking power and handling to go with the looks.
There are lower powered entry models, for the person who wants to look good on a budget and not have the need for a personal petrol tanker to follow them around. There will be intermediate models, the 'main sellers' which will enable MG to get their name across to the public and their cars seen on the road, and finally, there will be the monsters, the top of the pile, power hungry, road gripping, buttock clenching mean machines. But these will come at a higher price.So it was interesting to read the various comments, and still Rover do not seem to be able to win. They are a British company, and some of the press do what they seem to do best, knock British companies.
In the past Rover have been accused of being staid, old hat, pipe & flat cap brigade. Now we have comments from the opposite end of the spectrum completely. The new MG range has been accused of being a 'boy racers' worst nightmare! Just who will buy these cars we are asked? Er....;boy racers, maybe. Boy racers as in the element of drivers who want something that looks modified from the norm, something that will stick out from the crowd, and if that means lowered suspension, side skirts, spoilers, alloys and low profile tyres etc. then so be it. At least this time round MG are doing it right, they are also modifying the suspension, brakes and engines to give the power to the looks.
We can only hope that this time these so-called experts are so far of the mark and that the British public will prove them wrong. Rover & MG are part of our modern heritage, they are one of the last remaining British car manufacturers (not mentioning the smaller independents) and, as a country, we should be proud of the company and their products. We shouldn't kick a dog whilst he is down, we should at least give him the opportunity to get up!
January 2001
Norwich Union refused to provide insurance cover to MG Rover Group workers.
This was for new mortgage policies and was implemented due to what was seen as 'higher than normal risk due to redundancy'. Norwich Union were in talks with MG Rover over the problem.
MG Rover claims it is in a strong position with trading figures 'on the up'. The problem appears to be 'overspill' from an earlier period, when Rover split from BMW, and redundancies were certain. (Insurance cover is provided for unforeseen circumstances, if impending redundancy is known it is not classed as unforeseen).
26% = 2%, when Sales = Market share.
After some initial 'success' with the launch of the new Rover 75 and re-introduction of extra staff & shifts, Rover car sales fell by 26% in 1999. This positions the BMW owned company with a one-sixteenth share of the car market. Reportedly, only 143,000 Rovers were bought, even after the launch of the new 25 models, compared to 194,000 in 1998. Rover are expected to show big losses when annual figures are announced in March.
Top 10 car sales list for 1999 are dominated by Ford & Vauxhall, with Renault, VW & Peugeot filling the lower end.
Rover, whose market share fell by 2% to 6.25% are quoted as saying "We are confident that in the first quater of this year our increasing sales momentum will continue".
The Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders said that overall, new car sales in 1999 also fell by 2% to 2,197,615.(Compiled from reports issued January 2000)
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