The Rover Story

I was there! This version isn't perfect, but it does give an insight...





Source : http://www.europeanceo.com/business-and-management/2014/04/the-phoenix-four-and-mg-rover-groups-long-road-to-ruin/

I'd not seen those. - Thanks Melisandre.

What really isn't touched on is that they actually had a fantastic team at the lower levels with lots of very good ideas that were largely ignored. For years Rover had been sending staff to Cov Uni on various business courses. The output from these courses were ideas and schemes for improvement of the business. Towers and Co inherited all these ideas, but I doubt if they looked at them.

The original 4 were really not up to the job and you can see this if you ever watch the when Rover met BMW series (BBC?). Towers had risen to the top largely on the back of George Simpson (IIRC). Simpson was the brains, but Towers was more photogenic so was seen as the 'face' of the company. Stephenson was a nice guy, but was promoted far above his ability. (In fact, Stephenson was moonlighting running a truck recovery business!) One of their biggest mistakes was to bring in Kevin Howe. In a single stroke they lost much of the goodwill of the workforce who had largely supported them up to that point.

Right from day one it was known that the future without a partner was very limited. They courted several potential partners, but all fell through for one reason or another. Buying up Qvale wasn't the smartest of moves either.

In fairness to the Phoenix 4, they did keep Longbridge open for a few years and provide many people with employment. But in reality, it might have been better to follow Moulton's idea (which many of us said at the time) and bite the bullet early. Had they downsized to only a couple of models they might have had a better chance.

My own opinion is that the whole thing went to their heads and they actually thought they were as good as the press they were getting in the early days. As future events showed, it wasn't the case. Sadly, it wasn't them that suffered but the workforce.

An interesting read on the subject of Leyland/BLMC/etc. is Back from the Brink by Michael Edwardes. I'm no fan of Edwardes, but you can see that even in his days there there were many deeply ingrained problems that were carried right through to the very end.

Your welcome Rebbonk I did read the truth about Rover it was put into admin slowley way prior to its collapse but I can nt refind it again.

Thanks for the document Melisandre

Your Welcome Rebbonk.

for Rebbonk

P6 Rovers! Cars very much ahead of their time.

I've driven plenty of them, but never owned one: they're a bit of a risk to buy these days unless you know their provenance. - But there are still a few bargains to be had.

Thanks Melisandre

P6 Rovers! Cars very much ahead of their time.

I've driven plenty of them, but never owned one: they're a bit of a risk to buy these days unless you know their provenance. - But there are still a few bargains to be had.

A friend of mine (Coventry bookmaker Jimmy Gough jnr) had one of the first 2-litre models from new, it eventually developed a fault with the steering. He was told by the dealer that a spare part (I think it was a track rod end?) was "unobtainable anywhere" and that the car was a complete write-off. Whether that was true or not Jimmy swore he would never buy a Rover ever again.