Hi,
I read a Rover 400 recention in the second largest spread newspaper in the
Netherlands this weekend.
The main message was "Will this marque (and its supporting organisation)
exist much longer from now"?
Reading between the lines - if there is no firm message from this new
company the public will lose its confidence - if there was a little of
confidence anyway....
Pity though - the 75 is a very nice car to see.
Cheers,
Hans
'71 BGT
-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Hunt [mailto:paul.hunt1@virgin.net]
Sent: zondag 16 april 2000 18:55
To: Charley & Peggy Robinson; Bruce Burrows
Cc: Michael Jose; mgs@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Associated Press Brief on Rover Sale
The point is that Rover and Austin/Rover, Leyland Cars, British Leyland etc
before then have *not* been profitable despite the efforts of several
'management' companies over the past 25 years. Unless this new lot have
some methodology that hasn't been tried before and works it is just putting
off the inevitable (i.e. making no cars at all) a little bit longer. In the
meantime we lose the opportunity to have a completely different approach viz
a specialist car maker, at which the UK does quite well.
PaulH.
----- Original Message -----
From: Charley & Peggy Robinson <ccrobins@ktc.com>
To: Bruce Burrows <bburrows@webtv.net>
Cc: Michael Jose <mwjose@u.arizona.edu>; <mgs@autox.team.net>
Sent: Saturday, April 15, 2000 3:05 PM
Subject: Re: Associated Press Brief on Rover Sale
>
>
> Dunno about that. From a jobs standpoint, keeping Rover a volume
> producer - profitably - sounds like the best way to go.
>
> CR
>
> Bruce Burrows wrote:
> >
> > --WebTV-Mail-7939-144
> >
> > Damn!
> >
> > I had my hopes up. I really liked the idea of a new MG Car Company.
> > Rover, and an executive with a Rover bias and mindset, is a turnoff. I
> > surely hope he reconsiders or that his bid falls short.
> >
> > Please, everyone, pray with me this interloper turns out to be a
> > "fawlty" Towers. <G>
> >
> > Bruce Burrows
> >
> > '59 MGA basket case
> > '60 Daimler SP 250
> > '61 Daimler SP 250
> > '73 MGB driver
> >
> > My Dart website (not my cars!):
> >
> > http://community-2.webtv.net/guardian45/THEDAIMLERSP250DART/
> >
> > --WebTV-Mail-7939-144
> > Content-Disposition: Inline
> >
> > Received: from mailsorter-101-9.iap.bryant.webtv.net (209.240.198.43) by
> > storefull-157.iap.bryant.webtv.net with WTV-SMTP; Fri, 14 Apr
2000
> > 11:22:49 -0700 (PDT)
> > Return-Path: <mgs-owner@autox.team.net>
> > Received: from triumph.cs.utah.edu (triumph.cs.utah.edu [155.99.188.52])
by
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id
> > MAA23495 for mgs-actors; Fri, 14 Apr 2000 12:21:38 -0600 (MDT)
> > Message-ID: <38F76235.4718CE36@u.arizona.edu>
> > Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2000 11:23:50 -0700
> > From: Michael Jose <mwjose@u.arizona.edu>
> > X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.72 [en] (Win98; I)
> > X-Accept-Language: en
> > MIME-Version: 1.0
> > To: mgs@autox.team.net
> > Subject: Associated Press Brief on Rover Sale
> > Sender: owner-mgs@autox.team.net
> > Precedence: bulk
> > Reply-To: Michael Jose <mwjose@u.arizona.edu>
> >
> > BMW Receives Rival Offer for Rover
> >
> > MUNICH, Germany (AP) - Automaker BMW said Friday it has received a
> > rival offer for its ailing British subsidiary Rover from a
> > group led by a onetime Rover executive but gave few details on the bid.
> >
> > BMW said it had received a letter outlining the new proposal from a
> > group that includes John Towers, a former Rover CEO who
> > left the company in 1996. The luxury German carmaker said it would
> > review the offer.
> >
> > Last month, BMW announced its plan to sell the money-losing Rover to
> > Alchemy, a group of British venture capitalists. No price
> > was ever announced, leading to speculation that BMW was either giving
> > Rover away or actually paying Alchemy to take the
> > British automaker off its hands.
> >
> > Alchemy plans to buy Rover's main Longbridge plant in central England
> > and turn it into a niche producer of sports cars under
> > the name MG Car Co. Alchemy has no experience with car manufacturing,
> > however, and significant job losses are anticipated
> > by the unions.
> >
> > The move by Towers means BMW must now consider the new offer against
> > the rival bid from Alchemy. BMW said it was leading
> > parallel negotiations with both Alchemy and Towers.
> >
> > Towers has hinted that he would make a bid that would keep Rover as a
> > volume car producer, contradicting Alchemy's plans
> > to slim down production.
> >
> > Speaking before Towers launched his bid, British Trade Secretary
> > Stephen Byers said Towers' plan ``offers a better prospect
> > than perhaps anything else.''
> >
> > ``He believes that by working together with the work force there is a
> > real chance of a far better prospect for the future than
> > is being offered by Alchemy,'' Byers told the British Broadcasting
> > Corp.
> >
> > A union leader welcomed the new bid by Towers, who was at Rover for
> > eight years and is now chief executive of components
> > company Concentric.
> >
> > ``We are pleased that this bid has been tabled and we hope it will be
> > considered as a serious alternative,'' said Roger Lyons,
> > general secretary of the Manufacturing, Science and Finance union.
> >
> > Meanwhile, Britain announced a $3.2 million aid package Friday to help
> > companies that supply goods to Rover survive the
> > automaker's proposed sale.
> >
> > The money will go toward support, advice and training for the firms
> > most affected by the move.
> >
> > --WebTV-Mail-7939-144--
>
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