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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.
History
British Leyland MG 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 - 1986 Leyland Trucks subdivision sold to DAF; Split into two with the Van side became independent LDV in 1993, and the Truck side sold to Paccar of the USA.
- 1986 Leyland Bus floated off; bought by Volvo in 1988
- 1987 Unipart spare parts division sold off via management buyout
- 1988 Rover Group privatised; sold to British Aerospace
- 1994 Rover Group sold to BMW; 17-year collaboration with Honda ends
- 2000 Land Rover sold to Ford
- 2000 Mini retained by BMW
- 2000 Remainder of company now independent as the MG Rover Group
- 2001 MG Rover bought Qvale of Italy
- 2002 MG Rover agrees to collaborate with Tata of India
Changing owners When 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 history In 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 brands
Models A brief list of the various Rover badged models which have been produced since the Honda tie-up is given below: - 1981 Triumph Acclaim (re-badged Honda Ballade)
- 1984 Mk.1 Rover 200-series (re-badged Honda Ballade)
- 1986 Mk.1 Rover 800-series (Joint development also producing the Honda Legend) Marketed as Sterlings in the US.
- 1989 Mk.2 Rover 200-series (Joint development also producing the Honda Concerto)
- 1990 Rover Metro (revamped version of BL/Austin Metro)
- 1990 Rover 400-series (saloon and estate version of 200-series)
- 1992 Mk.2 Rover 800-series & Coupe
- 1993 Rover 600-series (based on Honda Accord)
- 1994 Mk.2 Rover 400-series (rebadged Honda Civic 5-door and Rover only saloon)
- 1995 Mk.3 Rover 200-series (developed in-house)
- 1995 MGF
- 1998 Rover 75 (developed during BMW ownership)
- 2000 Rover 200 and Rover 400 (rebadged Rover 25 and Rover 45, respectively)
- 2001 MG ZR, ZS and ZT (sports versions of Rover 25, 45 and 75, respectively)
- 2002 MGTF
- 2003 Rover Streetwise
- 2004 CityRover (Small sub-B car, effectively a rebadged Indian-built Tata Indica)
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.
Brands Many 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:
- 1895 Wolseley
- 1905 Austin
- 1912 Morris
- 1913 Vanden Plas (outside the US & Canada)
- 1923 MG created by Morris
- 1952 Austin-Healey created by Austin
- 1987 Sterling created as a separate brand in the US by the Rover Group
- 1986 Qvale (date of first car - company was in existence longer)
These brands are owned by BMW: - 1959 Mini originally used as a sub-brand on the Morris versions of the car (the Austin version was called the Austin Se7en). Made a brand in its own right by British Leyland in 1969
- 1898 Riley
- 1904 Rover (This is licensed to MG Rover)
- 1923 Triumph as a car brand - the motorcycle brand owned is by Triumph Motorcycles
These brands are owned by Ford: - 1947 Jaguar
- 1892 Daimler
- 1898 Lanchester
- 1959 Vanden Plas (US & Canada Rights Only)
- 1947 Land Rover (Created by Rover)
These brands are owned by others: - 1919 Alvis Alvis Vickers Ltd (makers of Tanks for the British Army)
- 1903 Standard (Unaccounted for)
- 1924 BSA used as a car brand. (Retained by Birmingham Small Arms, on sale to Jaguar in 1960. Current owner BSA Regal Group)
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
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