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MG Rover are the largest independent manufacturer of cars in the British motor industry. They came from the de-merger of the two historic marques of MG and Rover from BMW in 2000. They are based in Longbridge in Birmingham, on a site that has been a car factory since the Austin company was founded there in 1905.
HistoryBritish LeylandMG Rover are the heirs of the British Leyland Motor Corporation, which was formed in 1968 as the result of mergers between many British car firms. In 1975 British Leyland was nationalised due to financial difficulties. BL's new chairman Sir Michael Edwardes saw that the only way to make the company competitive again was to collaborate with the Japanese. In 1979, he began negotiations with Honda to co-develop new models and to share manufacturing facilities. The first product of this relationship was the Triumph Acclaim, and led to a long succession of Honda-influenced Rover badged models. Edwardes also implemented a ruthless programme of cutbacks and factory closures which saw the death of many of famous British marques. To reflect the resulting two-brand strategy, BL was renamed as the Austin Rover Group in 1982, and this was shortened in 1986 to simply the Rover Group. 1986–2002 timeline
Changing ownersWhen BMW sold off its interests, MG Rover was bought for a nominal £10 by a specially-assembled group of businessmen known as the Phoenix Consortium. The consortium was headed by ex-Rover Chief Executive John Towers. The links with other companies developed since 2000 presumably draw on MG Rover's history. Qvale was once the primary US importer of MGs, a relationship that started back in 1947 [1] (http://www.forbes.com/2001/06/20/0620mg.html). British Leyland had links with India going back to 1948, but Tata was associated with Daimler of Germany until 2001. Recent historyIn June, 2004, it was learned that Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation had signed a Joint Venture partnership to develop new models and technologies with MG Rover. This led to much speculation among the British media suggesting the Chinese company were poised to launch a takeover. Later that year, in November, news broke of an agreement between the two companies to create a joint venture company to produce up to a million cars a year, with the production shared between MG Rover's Longbridge site and locations in China. SAIC were to have a 70% stake in this company in return for a £1 billion investment, with MG Rover owning the remaining 30%. However, this agreement is still to be ratified by the Chinese government. On December 8, 2004, Tata of India, which had cooperated over the export of the Tata Indica as the CityRover, threatened ceasing its agreement with MG Rover if the SAIC tie-up went ahead, according to the Indian press. Tata claimed the report was inaccurate two days later. In January 2005, it was revealed that British Prime Minister Tony Blair had intervened to support the alliance between MG Rover and SAIC. MG Rover could not give a date on which the agreement would be finalized. Figures released by the company showed that the sale of Rover-branded cars fell in 2004 compared to 2003. Models and brandsModelsA brief list of the various Rover badged models which have been produced since the Honda tie-up is given below:
The company also continued to produce the Austin Maestro and Montego models until 1994, although after the dropping of Austin badges in 1987, they were never officially called the "Rover Maestro" or "Rover Montego"; only the model designation was used. The model line by 2000 was the Mini , MG F sports car (redesigned and relaunched as the TF), plus the Rover 25, 45 and 75 - small, medium and large family cars. Since then there has been some diversification - a Tourer derivative of the 75 was produced followed by MG badged versions of the Rovers (ZR, ZS, ZT and ZT-T respectively) with sportier performance and handling, then MG and Rover vans (the MG Express and Rover Commerce), followed by the Rover Streetwise (a 25 with off-road styling), the bottom-of-the-range Cityrover made by Tata in India, and the exotic Qvale-derived £65,000 MG XPower SV sports car. This may spearhead a return to the US markets abandoned in 1991. The Mini went out of production in 2000 after a 41-year production run, making way for the new MINI, which was now produced independently by BMW at Cowley. In 2001, 2002 & 2003 the company raced in the light LMP675 class at the Le Mans 24-hour race with special cars designed in collaboration with Lola. BrandsMany car brands that were formerly the property of British Leyland have passed on to MG Rover. The brands of Alvis and Jaguar (including Daimler and Lanchester, as well as the American rights to Vanden Plas) were sold off by British Leyland before it became Rover Group, and Land Rover was sold to Ford in the BMW days. These brands are owned by MG Rover:
These brands are owned by BMW:
These brands are owned by Ford:
These brands are owned by others:
The dates given are those of the first car of each name, but these are often debatable as each car may be several years in development. See also
Sources
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