That's an interesting report. Good to see a "car guy" in charge, as
opposed to the bean-counters that killed BL in the 70s-80s. But I find
the part about a "flagship supercar" troubling. Think of all the recent
"flagship supercars" that have turned out to be horrendous money pits
that drove the companies into financial disaster. The Bugatti EB110 comes
to mind, as does the Jaguar XK220. Lamborghini never actually made any
profits on their supercars until the Diablo, and now they're back into
deficit spending on the next generation of development. And the McLaren
project probably didn't make any profit either, even at $1 million apiece.
Especially when you consider that Rover/MG doesn't have a single existing
component that could be reasonably leveraged for supercar duty, so they'd
be working from a blank slate, and none of the development costs could be
shared with their volume production cars, it all sounds like a major
distraction at best and a fatal detour at worst. MG dosn't need to waste
resources on developing a new "R-type" at this point -- what they need is
a new MGA -- a breakout big seller, not an exotic supercar. IMHO...
Durinx Willy had this to say:
>A bad report on U.K. Rover (Phoenix) sales in June : down 20 % . The same
>month, BMW sales went up 25% - so much for bad publicity.
>However, this was posted on BBC online just yesterday :
>
>A specialist sports car designer has been appointed to oversee the next
>generation of Rover cars.
>Peter Stevens, who designed the world's fastest road-going car, the McLaren
>F1, is to lead a new design team at loss-making Rover, which was bought from
>BMW in May by the British Phoenix consortium.
>The group, headed by former Rover chief executive John Towers, aims to get
>Rover back in profit within the next two years.
>Industry analysts have said the company's success depends on its ability to
>roll out competitive new models.
>But the car market is becoming increasingly tough and Rover will need
>exceptional design and production if it is to rebuild its reputation.
>New man
>As well as the 240mph McLaren F1, Peter Stevens designed the Jaguar XJR15
>and Lotus Elan M100, and was also head of design at Lamborghini.
>The appointment of the 55-year-old car collector - who owns a number of
>classic MGs - to head up Longbridge's development team will give Rover a big
>boost.
>He is expected to give priority to engineering a new range of MG-badged
>cars, including a flagship supercar developed in partnership with racing car
>group Lola.
>Rover's deputy chairman, Nick Stephenson, is a director of Lola.
>Partnership
>When Phoenix took control of Rover, it said it was looking for a partner to
>help develop a new range.
>In the meantime, it said it would be aiming to continue production of the
>Rover 25, 45 and 75 models and the old-shape Mini at about 200,000 units a
>year.
>Production of the 75 is being transferred from Cowley in Oxford, which has
>been retained by BMW, to Longbridge in Birmingham.
>About 500 workers at Cowley have agreed to take voluntary redundancy.
>
>
>
>
--
Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
If you're near Mountain View, CA,
it's the red one with the silver bootlid.
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