The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #80045   Message #1456881
Posted By: Richard Bridge
10-Apr-05 - 05:25 AM
Thread Name: Obit - MG Rover
Subject: RE: Obit - MG Rover
Apart from the huge investment in bosses pensions, the new bosses also made some very silly decisions, like wasting their precious development budget on the £82,000 supercar that would never sell in volume (indeed, I think maybe it never sold any at all because it was not quite on the pace) and much of the development budget for that (and the contribution to the silly selling price) went on the carbon fibre (and therefore almost impossible to repair) bodyshell.

The big-engined rally All Aggro actually looked and went rather well.
The Ital was never properly sorted in the suspension but the apprentices made an experimental model with MGB gearbox and various mods that was very well written up, and the Marina GT while handling like a clubfooted cow dancing on a hemispherical iceberg went like a rat up a drainpipe at well below the cost of the opposition, and mostly stayed in one piece even if treated roughly.
The Range Rovers and Land Rovers were and are quite simply in a class of their own - the best off-road cars (with on-road capability to some extent) in the world, for all time. They will go places, and be repairable (well, Landrovers, anyway) in places the US and Japanese off-roaders can only dream of reaching.

Personally, I think it should be nationalised, as should the railways and post office, mines, gas and gas reserves, health service, telecommunications infrastructure, and television. The nature of capitalism ensures that investment is always sucked out to enrich shareholders and bosses, and in particular safety and responsibility are only observed during the rare moments when the cat is actually watching the rat.