Oh Dear, it makes me want to cry...

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 13 Apr 2011, 07:00

MG Production restarts at Longbridge (from the BBC)

Here we are, a once proud car-making nation and world leader now reduced to assembling CKD kits from China

And in the very factory that gave birth to such revoloutionary cars as the Mini..

What a bloody insult. I'd buy one just so I could set fire to the wretched thing and send it back to the Chinese remodelled to look like a one-fingered salute

Heads should hang in shame...

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 13 Apr 2011, 07:15

Funnily enough I was thinking along the same lines, IIRC that Chinese company ducked out of a deal with the original Rover company at the 11th hour leaving them stranded, mind you I won't print what I think about the Rover 'management team'

citronut · Unread post by **citronut** » 13 Apr 2011, 08:02

is'nt the DS9 being/going to be built in China,

regards malcolm

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 13 Apr 2011, 08:06

citronut wrote:is'nt the DS9 being/going to be built in China,

regards malcolm

Yes as I understand it, I suppose it had better come with self opening doors otherwise the handle will fall off whenever you try to open a door

stevenc75 · Unread post by **stevenc75** » 13 Apr 2011, 08:31

Can you imagine the French people and government standing by and letting the same fate befall Citroen, Peugeot or Renault? Not a chance.

Citroenmad · Unread post by **Citroenmad** » 13 Apr 2011, 18:09

I have seen and sat in an MG6, not a bad car to look at and feels quite well screwed together too. However why its a 1.8T petrol ive no idea, thats going to damage sales anyway. It also seems overpriced going buy what can be had for similar money, this is a Ford Focus and Vauxhall Astra rival, I think it will be hard temping people away from what they know.

I think its quite good that the old site will be put to use and that some jobs will return too.

Though out of heritage it is a shame that Chinese made cars will be built there

wheeler · Unread post by **wheeler** » 13 Apr 2011, 19:12

Makes me want to cry that they are making Rovers (well MG's but same thing) again no matter where they are built, produced or the parts made.
On the plus side at least they cant be worse than the last lot of cars they made

HDI Dave · Unread post by **HDI Dave** » 13 Apr 2011, 19:53

I wonder how the build quality is.
I digress onto 2 wheel Chinesery here but hey, you get the gist

When a couple of my friends saw recently ish introduced cheap Chinese copies of Japanese 125 commuter motorcycles for sale brand new at half the price, they jumped at the 'bargain':

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SKYJET-125cc-Sj12 ... 415877a7b7

The build quality was pants..and the parts were like waifer thin,cheap,everything,metal,alloy,plastics,electrics failed, heck, even the tyres lol. Both the bikes looked 10 year old in 6 months and both developed a serious carb/fuel leak fault straight on top of a hot,plastic enclosed engine!

I fixed them up for them,rectified all faults, valeted them and they soon part exed em for 4 wheels.

As said, small silver lining at least = jobs

Citroenmad · Unread post by **Citroenmad** » 13 Apr 2011, 20:16

HDI Dave wrote:I wonder how the build quality is.
I digress ...

I was impressed with it when I had a look, initial impressions were that it was well built both inside and out. Under the bonnet looked very VW actually, very similar use of plastics, coolant reservoirs and vital fluids all topped with similar looking caps and images.

The sales guy did say there would be a diesel version to follow, most likely some smaller petrols too.

At least its not a rebadged TATA this time! How anyone was fruity(!) enough to buy a CityRover in the first place was amazing! The UK should only have had one of those, just enough for someone to say how rubbish it really was and then no one else needed to buy one. That car really did no favors in saving Rover, what an awful idea.

The last of line models were not too bad, most were ancient designs sat on even older running gear, petrol HGFs are pretty common too. However I really like the Rover 75 and MG ZT, very nice cars and with the BMW engine still worth buying. I did quite like the Streetwise too, an excellent idea with those chunky bumpers and plastic trim to fend off parking dinks and it looks funky too.

addo · Unread post by **addo** » 13 Apr 2011, 21:28

I'm definitely in the "old school" side of this one; anything after the MGB was not a true MG (with honorable mention of the Japanese market V8's).

The B's and their predecessors, represented a convergence of simplicity, aspiration, styling, handling and performance - all in a very accessible package.

What we have here, is a company cynically exploiting the fact that many people simple don't appreciate this history - perhaps because they haven't meshed with it in real time - and trying to create a market niche with a badge they've bought.

This isn't a government's fault IMO - more the result of an anaesthetised population. At least some brands stand tall - can you imagine how many zillion cars would be sold if Crewe decided to outsource (to a Chinese factory) a mini-SUV with RR trim?

Cheers, Adam.

HDI · Unread post by **HDI** » 13 Apr 2011, 22:11

That solves a mystery ! Saw one of these today in Kidderminster, wondered what the heck it was, now I know !

Anyway, we need to get used to seeing more of China, the west is going to be their lapdog in decades to come. It may be difficult to stomach but they and other far east countries are making us, Europe and America look pathetic.

roverman75 · Unread post by **roverman75** » 13 Apr 2011, 22:19

having poked, prodded and driven the mg6 all i can say is it's better than a golf or focus (especially the new focus) . for ride and handeling it's probably the best on the market and the quality is better than my synergie and rover 75 put together!!!
also this a company starting from scratch , ok it's designed and engineered here and assembled here.
the engine may be a bit old fashioned but the uk is not it's main market . asia is.
if the new mg company had stuck to sports cars and retro saloons as the previous owners (inc. bmw) it will be a dead duck.
this is the first small step to longbridge and mg being a major force again. saic are in the top ten biggest car makers in the world and give mg the best financial footing its ever had.
new cars are coming , the supermini mg3, the focus sized mg5,an suv and a sportscar will be here in 2013.

Deanxm · Unread post by **Deanxm** » 13 Apr 2011, 22:24

yep its true, we cant compete, with health and safety and human rights and all that carry on it makes our production costs much higher than them, that and they can get workers for very little money, our time is nearly over

As far as the MG goes, well it looks like a hyundai from the front, i can see what market they are going for with the 1.8turbo but its not a big one and they are going up against the Octavia, Cupra and The sporty Vauxhall's and i cant think of their names now.
Its a tough well established market to crack (with better performing competition) but i think they are hoping the price will swing it, it has to be a good car though or fast and with 158bhp and 1500kg it wont be fast and with an 18k top spec model it isnt going to have the finnish of some euro cars either

i think the old gen MG's is going to be remembered as the better cars from what ive seen so far.

D

stedmancinques · Unread post by **stedmancinques** » 19 Apr 2011, 14:23

But, surely all the Citroens assembled at Slough were from KDK's with some components sourced in the UK for purchase tax reasons. (electrics, leather seats, walnut dash, glass and so on.) KDK's are not necessarily a bad thing.

What is bad is the extent to which our industrial base and engineering skills have been destroyed, and replaced with a huge range of public service non-jobs, and private sector roles to serve the giant Ponzi schemes that most western economies have become.

The 'Tornado' A1 Steam locomotive could not have been built without (former) East German resources, and a vanishing heritage of machinery and skills both made redundant by BR. A minister in the last government proudly boasted that we were now in a position to buy some Japanese trains! This made me want to weep also, considering how long this country led the world in railway design and manufacture.

When Concorde took off for the last time, a spectator was heard to say, 'There goes the last great achievement of this country'. How true!

Xaccers · Unread post by **Xaccers** » 19 Apr 2011, 15:29

Indeed, thankfully the current lot appear to be at least trying to turn things around, pushing for manufacturing export (rather than import) contracts, such as the huge rolls royce china contract, but so much damage has been done supporting public sector and finance sectors.
I seem to recall about 25 years ago a certain handbag wielding lady arranging tax breaks for motor manufacturers to set up business in the UK...