The ghosts of Longbridge
What a difference 12 months makes. This time last year, the Longbridge car plant
in Birmingham was producing over 300 MG and Rover cars a day, as its owners
talked excitedly about a long mooted joint venture with China's Shanghai
Automotive Industry Corporation.
Now the Longbridge factory is a shadow of its former self.
Most of the areas of the factory that were working in 2005 look far better
than this, and would require less re-commissioning to restart production, if
that should be required.
Many of the images are of the old West Works, which ceased to be a mainstream
production area with the cessation of Mini in 2000. It was then only used for
sub-assembly work and also rather as a motor manufacturer's equivalent of an
attic!
So the dereliction shown came about over five years. Areas like the Signal Box
had been out of use for much longer, and sat in parts of the site that had been
sold to Advantage West Midlands some time ago.
The deal with Shanghai never came off, MG Rover went bust and the vast halls
now lie empty after 100 years of car making. The shells of half-built Rover 75s
sit on a production line, while a crate of Rover tools is discarded on the
factory floor. Elsewhere, Chinese writing on MG Rover notepaper has been pinned
to a car door, a reminder MG Rover's future is in the hands of Shanghai's rival
Nanjing Automotive, which bought the site (but not the land) for £53m in
late-July. The run-down state of the car plant illustrates the level of
investment required if Nanjing is going to succeed with its plans to hire 1,200
staff and start making 100,000 cars a year again. Nanjing said this week it will
try its best "to resume production at the beginning of 2007". Forty security
guards patrol the 300-acre site. Sources said Nanjing's executives were likely
to be "concerned" about the apparent security lapse.
Earlier the Chinese leader met some of Britain's business leaders at Buckingham
Palace. China joined the World Trade Organisation in 2003, triggering a surge of
investment by companies in the West. British companies have been investing more
in China than firms from any other EU country. The president of China, Hu Jintao,
has visited Britain's Houses of Parliament as part of a three-day state trip.
Trade between the two nations is growing quickly, in fact the UK is now China's
fourth largest trading partner. Mr Hun made it clear that while his nation
faced a number of challenges including a large population and weak
infrastructure, it is maintaining rapid growth and living standards have
improved considerably. But the money does not just flow one way. Chinese
carmaker Nanjing Automobile bought MG Rover in July and has pledged to restart
car production in the UK.
The curtain may have come down on MG Rover but the fact that the factory gates
are now closed doesn’t change the quality of the cars already produced. And
while second-hand values, understandably, tumbled after Rover’s demise, prices
have now stabilised, which means buying a used MG Rover is not the risk many
would have you believe. with hundreds of thousands of MG Rovers still on the
road spare parts are readily available well-built saloon that will undercut its
German rivals by thousands of pounds and are not worried about driving a car
with a badge that is defunct, then now is the perfect time to take a closer look
at the MG Rover. Based on the solid foundations Rover , it adds a bit of MG
Rover magic to produce a car that owners adore.
They purchased the whole Group for £800,000,000, then sold Land Rover alone
for £1,800,000,000. That is a £1bn increase on its own. The vast majority of the
investment in plant went to Cowley (or Rover Oxford as BMW called it). BMW
retained this plant.BMW invested in a new engine facility (Hamms Hall). BMW have
retained this plant.
BMW retained the Longbridge Engine & Transmissions facility, thereby forcing
Rover to buy components from BMW to be able to make cars. The same goes for the
Swindon panel pressing plant. BMW made money out of Rover car sales, even if
Rover were making a loss. Eventually, they sold these facilities to Phoenix, but
it was for a fair value, and not included in the £10.???????????????????
New models developed or in development were:
The Rover 75
The Rover Rover 400/45 replacement – development retained by BMW
The Rover Rover 200/25 replacement – development retained by BMW
The Land Rover Freelander
The new Mini – retained by BMW
New models developed or in development were:
When BMW sold Rover, they included the following assets...
Most of the Longbridge plant (anything that had received investment, BMW
retained to sell later on.)
The Austin brand
The MG brand
A licence to use the Rover name (but not to own it)
The stock of unsold cars
The drastically weakened dealer network.
BMW have retained the following:
The Rover brand (this was a condition by Ford to stop Rover producing a 4x4 and
branding it as a Rover, thus confusing the marketplace with regard to Land
Rover)
The Triumph brand
The Riley brand
The Mini brand
All of the cash in Rover, as well as the debtors and creditors
The Cowley facility
Parts of Longbridge (engine & transmissions production - even though these
engines and transmissions are not used by BMW). This was sold later to Phoenix.
The Swindon pressings facility
MGB V8 MONARO GTS 350 Where we live
4wd going on trips around Australia .This group's aim is to share
trip information, pictures and tips
the combined knowledge of its members on places for 4WD's to explore in
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This list is for people who love 4wd`ing and want to share and acquire knowledge
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so come on join up and lets share our experiences, photos etc. People with any
type of 4x4 are welcome,
I run a 1978 4wd f100 .
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