I think the major problem with Rover was the exchange rate... BMW invested
Euros or marks, sells Rovers for pounds, and then convert the pounds back to
euros when sending them back to Germany as "profits"... there was alot of
chances where BMW lost thier money in the conversion. I would suspect, a
British-owned Rover might make alot more money just eliminating the currency
conversion.
Rover was a profitable company pre-BMW under John Towers. So the addage,
if BMW couldn't make a profit with Rover, who could? is a red herring. Rover
made a profit as Rover, BMW couldn't, maybe Rover can do it again.
Notice the mistakes BMW made: Eliminated many Rover products that were
profitable in the guise of making Rover a British BMW (like the Metro which
sold well, the 200 Cabriolet, the 600 and 800 were replaced with just the 75,
etc) The MGF developed before BMW bought Rover was not developed, i.e. the
SuperSport concept, a coupe version, etc. BMW did not use the enourmous
heritage of the MG name. BMW didn't sell MGs in America... we all know that
was a HUGE mistake.
-JOhn
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