MG Rover is history

[mchastek]

From The Detroit Free Press (http://www.freep.com/money/autonews/irep16e_20050416.htm):

AUTO INDUSTRY REPORT: MG Rover plans closure

April 16, 2005

Administrators for MG Rover Group said Friday they intend to break up the company, laying off 5,000 workers, in a bid to find buyers for different units after Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. made clear it is not interested in a joint venture.

Rover's downfall was precipitated by the failure of talks with China's government-owned SAIC, and renewing the negotiations had been seen as the best chance of saving the company and the jobs of about 6,100 workers at its Longbridge factory in central England.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, which was appointed to oversee the company's future after it closed its British factory and filed for a form of bankruptcy a week ago, said the prospects of selling Rover as a going concern to SAIC or anyone else had disappeared.

[harkul]

Yes this was a surprise to some degree, I really thought the government would have saved their day, but no. Rover is somewhat close to my heart, I facilitated a sale of about 1800 Rover 75's to Russia last year and also in the beginning of this year, and model 75, either MG or Rover, were really beginning to catch on. Not only in Russia but also in Scandianavian countries, notably in Finland. Well, we'll just have to see what the Chinese are going to do.

[mchastek]

Yes this was a surprise to some degree, I really thought the government would have saved their day, but no. Rover is somewhat close to my heart, I facilitated a sale of about 1800 Rover 75's to Russia last year and also in the beginning of this year, and model 75, either MG or Rover, were really beginning to catch on. Not only in Russia but also in Scandianavian countries, notably in Finland. Well, we'll just have to see what the Chinese are going to do.

Very interesting Harri! I agree, it's sad to see them go. Do you have any other Rover stories? I'd love to hear some!

[harkul]

Sorry, took awhile to get back; anyway, with MGRover, we still have some cars left, and while the situation is not very good in terms of the future of these cars they are obviously attractively priced, and a very good value at this poin, especially the 75 models, so what we are trying to do is to hang on as long as we can, hoping that one of the interested parties with deep pockets will take this opportunity and do something about it. MG brand in particular, is well worth the consideration. They say it's dollar value is somewhere between 60 to 100 mil, and I'd say that is probably true. Currently, we are still selling the cars to east europen countries, I think the overall value of the automobile is still viewed somewhat differently in these countries. I'd like to hear more from anyone who might be interested in this opportunity.

[Paul12801]

RIP MG Rover.

Harkul, do you have a dealership? If so, where at?

[harkul]

Yes, we have locations in Germany, Finland and Russia.

[bunyarra]

Iranian's interested?

http://www.just-auto.com/blogs_detail.asp?art=884

[mchastek]

I just noticed we had a new member register that works for MG Rover - I was wondering if they'd like to comment on the situation?

[harkul]

Well, things have not changed much in the recent weeks, the administrators are trying to work things out and have mentioned that out of the 200 or so interested parties, 5 have emerged as the final entries, and of those 3 are interested only with MG and 2 taking over the whole thing. We pretty much know the first 3 but the others are more or less unknown. It is a complex situation, and no doubt, the lawyers and accountants love it, lots of potential billable hours, but on the other hand, it is pretty much the end of the road, quite frankly, I find myself feeling pessimistic about the whole thing.

If you look at the global marketplace today, and the cost of running an auto manufacturing company, well folks, it ain't peanuts, that is for sure, and other than the model 45, everything else is pretty much old or otherwise not easily converted to sales, so I am thinking the downside is just too big on this, so if the administrators are hanging on too long, they just might end up taking some of those cars as payments for their services. What they should do, is to work with credible buyers/distributors like us, work out a deal and be done with it. They are of course working with us, but not aggressively enough, sort of going around and around, talking-really-with too many people who are not in a position to buy large quantaties of these cars anyway. This starts out the rumors and turns on the "cellphone marketers", people who have nothing else to their namesake, just a cell phone, who will then start selling the cars over the internet and so forth. During one of my deals with Rover, I had already signed up on the deal, and yet I got these emails and phone calls, selling the very cars I had purchased, and for lot less than I paid for them! Unbeliavable!

[wuxisftx]

me too! me too! me too! me too!me too!