Tuesday 15th April 2008

Longbridge MG TF Plans Shattered

Fears MG production at plant will never restart

---

Nanjing unveiled a spruced up TF

Cars may never be built at Longbridge again after a plan to revive MG TF production at the plant reportedly collapsed.

Main supplier Stadco has apparently decided to stop manufacturing body-shells for the TF, affectively sounding the ‘death knell’ for the fragile project.

After it bought MG Rover it had been hoped that Nanjing would open up the assembly lines at Longbridge.

But one source has told local media that it is now doubtful whether Nanjing parent SAIC will ever produce cars at Longbridge.

He said the chances of the factory producing MGs was ‘very slim’ and the best the Rover factory could hope for would be a role as a servicing centre.

He pointed out that far more attractive operations had struggled, such as Jaguar, Aston Martin and TVR, and that it would be uneconomical to produce cars at Longbridge.

‘If SAIC/Nanjing thought they could produce cars at Longbridge economically, then I am sure they would,’ he said.

‘But can they do it economically?

‘I cannot see them prepared to spend the sorts of money required. It was always wishful thinking that something would happen. "I accept that some people within Nanjing had intentions to produce. But I have never had the impression they were serious about it.’

[bob1179]

Well, that is hardly suprising news.

Goes well with the TVR thread I suppose...

[RichardR]

I thought the original plans were for Nanjing to press the bodyshells and them ship them over with the necessary additional components for final assembly at Lonbridge.

If that's the case what do STADCO, who appear to be an American engineering and fabrication company with a UK operation, have to do with the operation?

[Tahiti]

I'm not sure I'd want a Chinese interpretation of an old design of car anyway.

[mrloudly]

Stadco are a huge pressing company (My biggest customer).
They bought the Castle Brom Jaguar press shop (See the site off the M6) and (for a while) the LDV press shop.

Most people don't realise most car manufacturers don't make
cars, they mostly assemble bits from other suppliers.

Did you know that Mayflower (Bought out by Stadco) Made MGF bodies on a line next to DB7's in Coventry???

Andy M

[tomTVR]

Tahiti said:

I'm not sure I'd want a Chinese interpretation of an old design of car anyway.

Exactly, you would need underpants on your head and pencils sticking out of your nose to buy one over the latest MX5 unless it was VERY cheap.

[Vauxcrayzee]

I don't know why anyone would be anything but glad over this news. MG Rover was an amalgamation of crappy British car brands that manufactured nothing but fail for too long.

Sure it's a shame people lost their jobs, and it's a shame we don't have a car industry any more... but IMO the blame lies with those who decided that selling cars made with parts designed 20 years ago was acceptable.

[B10]

Vaux you are a misinformed ****** of the highest order. Go back to junior school and learn a bit more about the UK car industry and it's history.

[Gun]

Hardly a surprise really when you can get them built in a foreign country for next to nothing, although with the credit crunch Britain might fall into that bracket soon.

[stuartbuckell]

Vauxcrayzee said:

I don't know why anyone would be anything but glad over this news. MG Rover was an amalgamation of crappy British car brands that manufactured nothing but fail for too long.

Sure it's a shame people lost their jobs, and it's a shame we don't have a car industry any more... but IMO the blame lies with those who decided that selling cars made with parts designed 20 years ago was acceptable.

B10 said:

Vaux you are a misinformed ****** of the highest order. Go back to junior school and learn a bit more about the UK car industry and it's history.

B10 calm down mate - don't think that's really called for.

MG made some good cars and I believe started to turn a profit? However bad management, and the rest is history.

End of the day they went bankrupt, regardless. Move on.

[kevin ritson]

Vauxcrayzee said:

I don't know why anyone would be anything but glad over this news. MG Rover was an amalgamation of crappy British car brands that manufactured nothing but fail for too long.

Sure it's a shame people lost their jobs, and it's a shame we don't have a car industry any more... but IMO the blame lies with those who decided that selling cars made with parts designed 20 years ago was acceptable.

Ironic, coming from someone who owns a Corsa by choice

Seriously though, wasn't the projected price for the new MG TF around £20K? There's no way they'd sell any at that price. Spruce up the bodywork and interior and offer base models at £12K and they'd have a decent product.

[Vauxcrayzee]

B10 said:

Vaux you are a misinformed ****** of the highest order. Go back to junior school and learn a bit more about the UK car industry and it's history.

Ok I've wrote a quick summary for you:

British Leyland - 100% Fail
Rover - 100% Fail
Triumph - Mostly fail
MG - Limited success but mostly fail
Austin - 105% fail

[Fire99]

kevin ritson said:

Seriously though, wasn't the projected price for the new MG TF around £20K? There's no way they'd sell any at that price. Spruce up the bodywork and interior and offer base models at £12K and they'd have a decent product.

17.5k i believe...

[10 Pence Short]

Oh well, I suppose it had been nearly a week since the last MG argument.

[andymadmak]

stuartbuckell said:

Vauxcrayzee said:

I don't know why anyone would be anything but glad over this news. MG Rover was an amalgamation of crappy British car brands that manufactured nothing but fail for too long.

Sure it's a shame people lost their jobs, and it's a shame we don't have a car industry any more... but IMO the blame lies with those who decided that selling cars made with parts designed 20 years ago was acceptable.

B10 said:

Vaux you are a misinformed ****** of the highest order. Go back to junior school and learn a bit more about the UK car industry and it's history.

B10 calm down mate - don't think that's really called for.

MG made some good cars and I believe started to turn a profit? However bad management, and the rest is history.

End of the day they went bankrupt, regardless. Move on.

I think B10's frustration is born out of the level of missinfomred crap that tends to spew onto these MGR threads whenever they appear. 99% of what I have read from so called "knowledgable people" about MGR is frankly little more than hearsay and pub gossip, fueld largely by people who either never drove the cars or just thought it was cool to take a pot shot at what was an easy target.
Personally I saddened that yet again MGR has been shafted by its owners. Granted, there is very little pain left to take in terms of jobs etc, but a company that had a history of inovation, produced some memorable vehicles (as well as some very crap stuff) surely deserved better than this.

Granted, the seeds of doom were sown in the 70's with crap management and a bolshy, unionised unproductive poor quality strike happy workers, overseen by successive governments who could not see that product, not edict was the way to save the company.
Briefly, the 80's the company started to turn the corner. The M cars (metro, Maestro, Montego) were all up with the class leaders in their day. - Its fashionable now to talk about crap Maestros and for everyone to laugh knowingly. Yet these cars sold well, and went (at least in MG form) really quite respectably. Ever driven a Maestro turbo? I have, owned it from new for 70k miles. Never broke down, despite numerous track day events. It was very fast, comfy and handled well. I could live wit the torque steer cos it was much more stable at the back end on lift off than the 205Gti 1.9 I had - Oh, and the Maestro was faster round Donington too. Yet the Pug is the track day weapon of choice for the supposed cognoscenti.........
Likewise the big 800 vitesses I had in the 90s (both turbos) Over 100k in both and never missed a beat. The company Ford Scorpio was returned to Ford after 30k miles however such was our dismay at its total unreliability (bordering on the dangerous) and don't even get me started on our supposedly uber reliable Audis and BMWs of the same period!

The final nails were well and truly driven home by BMW - as anyone who has taken the time to do the research will tell you - not that abyone is prepared to listen of course, - you're all far too comfy "knowing what you know" even if too much of it is completely inaccurate.
Some of you will no doubt say that "well if they'd built cars that were any good they'd still be here......" And that would be a gross simplification. Towards the end the cars were good. The 75 and ZT were (are) excellent product that more than stood comparision with the competition. The ZR was the best selling hot hatch, the ZS was described by many in the know as handling as well as a Scooby WRX for rather less money. But by then it didn't really matter did it, cos all the "customers" "knew" all they had to know about MGR and its products.
Even some of the comments in other threads about the TF are as laughable as they are inaccurate.
No other maker would suffer the indignity of having a car that it had comprehensively restryled inside and out, reengineered with a completely new suspension system and updated engines be dismissed as a tarted up old design. When ford restryle the Mondeo, or Audio tweak the A4 its always hailed as a breakthrough new advance, even when 90% of the car is the same as the outgoing model.
MGR may not have stood a chance by the end, but partly thats cos the customers were too smug and blinkered to give it one. Sad. very sad, given the talent and dedication that were clearly evident at Longbridge, both amongst the workforce AND management at the end.

Oh, and for the record, I have it on good authority that MGR was trading at a profit when this labour government pulled the plug on it (mysterioulsy at 9.30 in the evening whilst its MD was on a plane and so unavailable for comment - now how often does that happen to a PRIVATE company?)

[jamiebae]

Stadco haven't 'apparently' decided to pull out, they have actually pulled out of the deal and have begun consultations with the workforce because 30 or so are likely to be laid off as a result.

Really, the MGTF has never been a viable option for NAC to produce, there's virtually no market in China for that kind of car so the chances of them actually setting up a press shop in China to make TF shells is very slim.

Stadco used to supply TF body-in-white assemblies to Rover before they went broke so it would be relatively easy to re-start production if they were on board.

[andymadmak]

Vauxcrayzee said:

B10 said:

Vaux you are a misinformed ****** of the highest order. Go back to junior school and learn a bit more about the UK car industry and it's history.

Ok I've wrote a quick summary for you:

British Leyland - 100% Fail
Rover - 100% Fail
Triumph - Mostly fail
MG - Limited success but mostly fail
Austin - 105% fail

And that my friend just shows how little you really know.

[VladD]

Vauxcrayzee said:

B10 said:

Vaux you are a misinformed ****** of the highest order. Go back to junior school and learn a bit more about the UK car industry and it's history.

Ok I've wrote a quick summary for you:

British Leyland - 100% Fail
Rover - 100% Fail
Triumph - Mostly fail
MG - Limited success but mostly fail
Austin - 105% fail

Are those proffesional girls in your photos Vaux?

[Vauxcrayzee]

Name me any MG Rover car, from any era that would be a better buy than ANYTHING else on the market. Most of them were crap, some of them were average (MG ZR/ZS) but none of them were excellent at anything.

They weren't the cheapest
They weren't the fastest
They weren't the prettiest
They weren't the safest
They weren't the best handling
They weren't the best specc'd
They weren't the most comfortable

Just about any MG Rover had a better alternative at the time from another manufacturer, that scored better on most or all of the above points.

Don't get me wrong guys, I like the look of the last of the MG Rovers, but they just don't excel at anything that makes the majority of petrolheads want to own one. It's a shame!

[VladD]

Vauxcrayzee said:

Name me any MG Rover car, from any era that would be a better buy than ANYTHING else on the market. Most of them were crap, some of them were average (MG ZR/ZS) but none of them were excellent at anything.

They weren't the cheapest
They weren't the fastest
They weren't the prettiest
They weren't the safest
They weren't the best handling
They weren't the best specc'd
They weren't the most comfortable

Just about any MG Rover had a better alternative at the time from another manufacturer, that scored better on most or all of the above points.

Don't get me wrong guys, I like the look of the last of the MG Rovers, but they just don't excel at anything that makes the majority of petrolheads want to own one. It's a shame!

Name a car in the same segment that was better looking than the MG ZT.

[kevin ritson]

Vauxcrayzee said:

Name me any MG Rover car, from any era that would be a better buy than ANYTHING else on the market. Most of them were crap, some of them were average (MG ZR/ZS) but none of them were excellent at anything.

They weren't the cheapest
They weren't the fastest
They weren't the prettiest
They weren't the safest
They weren't the best handling
They weren't the best specc'd
They weren't the most comfortable

Just about any MG Rover had a better alternative at the time from another manufacturer, that scored better on most or all of the above points.

Don't get me wrong guys, I like the look of the last of the MG Rovers, but they just don't excel at anything that makes the majority of petrolheads want to own one. It's a shame!

Can you say the same for Vauxhall?