Yay, thats what the blooming gloaters should have, a bit of a backlash!

As I had mentioned in another thread, media is so one sided a lot of the time its unreal.

I noticed that BBC swiped it off their teletext front page by mid morning.

 

Any response yet?

 

Dear Sir or Madam,

I have today seen your teletext comment on Rover. The company to which you refer was called MG Rover.

MG Rover may have cost the tax payer £600 million pounds but was worth £14 billion to the economy in sales and exports.

MG Rover suffered from many problems.

1. BMW asset stripping.
2. Anti British and MG feeling
3. Jeremy Clarkson plc
4. Shanghai automotive and China Brilliance’s under hand dealings with them.
5. A few of their management.
6. Appathy from the British public. Bavarian must be best.
7. Lack of support from British companies, The Police, Utility companies etc.

At the time of their passing the Rover 75/MG ZT was still a top compact executive seller, The MG ZR was number 1 hot hatch in the 1.4 class and the MGTF outsold the world famous Mazda MX5 and was number 1 in the small open top class.

The French government support and invest in Renault. The French people support French products. We don’t.

We only sniped at MG Rover.

Yes they needed new models and investment but we could have done so and kept 6000 jobs in a great firm and kept some heritage.

The 2000 you state say are still unemployed is nearer 4000.

Thanks a bunch. Lets hope you give Nanjing MG more support.

Yes you guessed it a MGZTT owner, a car the Police often overlooked for the Volvo V70. And an MGF owner.

Derek Robbins
Address supplied

Rover suffered cause it was bought by Leyland who merged with the unhealthy BMH, thus resulting the BL(MC) mostrozity.

 

If you don't get a response I suggest you send your letter/note to BBC complaints service via their website.

I did this when an article was published on the web about how BMW had thrived in the 21st century and before, however there was a large gap left where the 1990s and rover ownership should have been filled, and the reporters just breezed past it!

I received a reply within 3 days and there were reasons sent to me why the article was written in such a way. It would be worth a shout to do this with your letter if you are interested.

 

Rover suffered cause it was bought by Leyland who merged with the unhealthy BMH, thus resulting the BL(MC) mostrozity.

I think its a bit more complicated than that, its more or less 38 years of ups and downs.

1968-1984 - down down down under BL

1984-1994 - up up and away (well...mostly) with RG and BAE despite some niggles underneath which didnt help in the future but the short term was certainly bright

1994-2000 - down down down, particularly post 1997.

2000-2002 - brief repreive although far from outstanding.

2003-2005 - down in the dungeons once again and the 'finale'

 

Yes you guessed it a MGZTT owner, a car the Police often overlooked for the Volvo V70

Because it's slower and has way less carrying capacity than the Volvo still, never let the facts etc.....

 

wow imagine if the british police had actually used ZT V8s - trouble would be people complaining of the forces not doing enough to preserve the planet.

 

Thing is though, one will go around the clock a couple of times and the other won't.

 

I received a reply within 3 days and there were reasons sent to me why the article was written in such a way. It would be worth a shout to do this with your letter if you are interested.

Were the reasons along the lines of, "It wasn't on BMW's press release?"

 

good point :lol:

I suspected that but they didnt reveal that to me. They said something on the lines of "they (BBC) thought the rover years were less important as it marked a less important period in BMW's life and prosperity"

chuffing heck, thats charming isn't it? the best thing in an article is to have a balance of positive and negative without being to controversial or vague.

 

Rover suffered cause it was bought by Leyland who merged with the unhealthy BMH, thus resulting the BL(MC) mostrozity.

By 1984 Austin Rover was lean and mean compared to most other manufacturers.

There are plenty of reasons often overlooked. I suspect no other country in Europe treats Ford/GM as their own quite like the Brits, and the combinaton of harsh auto press, the public's response to it, and rumours and prejudces play their part to.

If there's one constant in the history of MGR and it's predecessors - a giant in 1968 but quite small by the 1980's - it's the lack of investment and money (often as a result of either not wishing to borrow or not being able to).

Because it's slower and has way less carrying capacity than the Volvo still, never let the facts etc.....

I'm sure overall internal capacity is similar assuming the models are of similar length. I wasn't aware the police needed so much loading bay at the expense of seating capacity or wider vehicles (that carry their own problems). With such a massive difference in load capacity the Volvo's must be too large or very cramped.

Is the fastest Volvo so much faster than the fastest MG ZT-T? Is the Volvo the fastest around?

Yes, there are probably costs issues, though the price of ZT's must have been fairly good and if it comes down to money there are other options.

Does the Volvo have any other advantages? And what about the ZT's advantges?

And what about the cost to the British economy of choosing a Volvo over a car produced/assembled in the UK, made by a UK company, or both? I suspect tha was more he point of the original post.

 

Just seen this posted on the BT Yahoo site, I can't see it posted anywhere else, but apologies if it is.


Rover collapse could cost taxpayers £270m

The collapse of MG Rover cost the taxpayer an estimated £270m, a committee of MPs has concluded.
The Commons public accounts committee published its report into the demise of the British car manufacturer on Tuesday.
MG Rover, which employed about 6,000 people at its Longbridge plant until it closed in April last year, went into decline after being sold by BMW in 2000.
That decline and eventual closure is estimated to have cost the taxpayer £270m, but the total including the cost to the private sector is far higher.
Private companies lost £109m in unpaid bills, while a pension deficit of £500m may have to be met by the business-funded Pension Protection Fund.
The committee's report said about 2,000 former workers from Rover and its suppliers are still out of work.
MPs praised the work of development agencies in helping diversify the local economy in the years before Longbridge's closure, but said the performance of the Department of Trade and Industry was mixed.
Chairman Edward Leigh said: "The damage to the local economy would have been even greater without the efforts made by local agencies to help the local economy diversify in the years before the collapse of the company.
"The closure of MG Rover while a general election was under way presented the DTI with a situation fraught with risks.
"In some respects it rose to the occasion - for instance by arranging immediate support for former MG Rover employees.
"But serious gaps in its planning were exposed.
"The truth is that it had never managed to get close enough to the company to develop comprehensive plans for this kind of scenario and found itself trying to catch up with a rapidly developing situation."
The report said £5.2m of the £6.5m DTI loan given to keep the company afloat for a week after in went into administration would have to be written off, but acknowledged that the department was using the money to try to save jobs.
MPs also noted that the directors of Phoenix Venture Holdings, a consortium of local businessmen which bought the firm from BMW, received £40m from the company between 2000 and 2005.
A DTI spokesman said: "The department was always ready to engage with MG Rover and did so on a regular basis from 2000 onwards, but the company was reluctant to share detailed business plans or accept offers of help with pursuit of deals.
"Strong relationships require effort on both sides."

 

Is the fastest Volvo so much faster than the fastest MG ZT-T? Is the Volvo the fastest around?.

oh yes.. v70R or s60R (the police use both v70T5 and s60T5) are very very fast. something even the zt260 couldnt hope for.

 

Thing is though, one will go around the clock a couple of times and the other won't.

I dont doubt a 75 would manage to go around the clock a few times. My old mans '99 75 V6 is on one hundred-and-something-stupid and literally all thats gone wrong is a door handle, battery & exhaust. They're pretty tough cars.

V70 is a great as well though, you know how quick the T5 is once it gets going!

 

oh yes.. v70R or s60R (the police use both v70T5 and s60T5) are very very fast. something even the zt260 couldnt hope for.

There we go then, the police V70's are slower than the zt260... well only by 0.1 of a second going by manufacturers figures

 

There we go then, the police V70's are slower than the zt260... well only by 0.1 of a second going by manufacturers figures

To be fair the police would have been bankrupted by the 4.6 litre ZT's!

Not really an option, would have had to have been the 190.

T5 0-60 6.9, ZTT 8.2

 

There we go then, the police V70's are slower than the zt260... well only by 0.1 of a second going by manufacturers figures

yeh cus the police are going to use v8 pursuit cars these days right

 

The s60R is 0=60 in what, 5.5 seconds or something, ZT is like 6.2, so nothing huge in it.

MPG comibned is 26, to 21 in favour of the Volve. Quite evenly matched, ZT weighs marginally more though?

 

good point :lol:

I suspected that but they didnt reveal that to me. They said something on the lines of "they (BBC) thought the rover years were less important as it marked a less important period in BMW's life and prosperity"

chuffing heck, thats charming isn't it? the best thing in an article is to have a balance of positive and negative without being to controversial or vague.

Did they mention the MINI?

If they did, then this arguament stated would be null and void because the mini that BMW robbed from Rover, was designed almost exclusively by Rover at Gaydon, with only really styling and engine input from BMW, who after stitching up what was to become MG Rover in 2000, and the sale of Gaydon to Ford, actually struggled to get the car into production.

 

The only trouble with Volvo V70 T5's are parts supplies. My mate is a Dog Handler for Essex Police and they had two V70's off the road for 3 weeks waiting for replacement rear light clusters that were smashed in a vandalism spate.

Hence why Essex Police are going back to Mondeo ST220's where part supplies are overnight affairs.

Drivers of Pursuit Cars had ZT-T 190's back in 2001 and they were very highly rated, however, they could get nearly 2 Mondeo's for the price of a ZT-T. It came down to basic economics. When Ford are throwing Mondeo Estates at the Police for around £9k.

 

yeh cus the police are going to use v8 pursuit cars these days right

That wasnt the point

 

I wonder how much they go for then at auction when they have finished with them then.

 

here is the article

dubbed "Panke's vision for the future"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4717446.stm

it stops at 1996 (without mentioning the rover takeover of 94) then goes:

"a decade later....."

There is a small mention for the MINI and how the car should be coming from his words.

Its not a totally awful article, it just needed a bit of tweaking, and this has not took place.

 

The only trouble with Volvo V70 T5's are parts supplies. My mate is a Dog Handler for Essex Police and they had two V70's off the road for 3 weeks waiting for replacement rear light clusters that were smashed in a vandalism spate.

Does Jeremy Clarkson and all the other Ford loving UK motoring journalists know about this?

I think they should be told... I feel a naughty e-mail to Honest John coming on.... :devil2:

 

oh he won't care - he's that narrow minded that he goes from hating fords to liking them because of the GT, and its his GT thats always in the garage!

he'll say its a 3 week wait for a ,high quality, premium, exclusive, executive component, and so in his words - it wont matter.