its clearly always a shame when people lose their jobs; been there done it myself; but if you sell a crap product or offer a crap service sooner or later it will catch up with you. that goes from small local companies right up to the biggest there are. unfortunately some people prefer to stick their heads in the sand rather than face up to what is going on around them.

Well to be truthful with you the government ****ed it up for Rover some years ago. When a tie up with Honda was on the cards they took the quick buck and sold it to BMW who then stripped off the assets and through it away. Politicians crooks in suits!

Most of the people that will lose their jobs will have had very little influence on the products range or even the quality. Not their fault that the company has been stuck in the past.

... and it's not the fault of the company when they don't have the funds available to invest in new designs.

This situation was clearly on the cards ever since the Pheonix consortium picked up the pieces from BMW. Their model range was already dated and no amount of tarting up is going to hide that. The cost of developing a new car was always going to be beyond them. The only chance they had was to go in with a bigger company to fund them which is where the Chinese came in.

I agree with Walenut that the people who chucked Honda over BMW are ultimately responsible for the loss of jobs now.

Perhaps they should have split off MG to make it into a TVR-esk specialist sports car company...

Having worked in manufacturing related jobs all my life, most of it abroad, it is blatantly obvious that the manufacturing sector in the UK is getting a very short end of a stick held by the government. I've seen some excellent manufacturing facilities around the UK, but even the best struggle mightyly against the strong international competition when the government is seemingly putting them out of business.

Manufacturing is a key underpinning in any country's economy. The Uk seems to think that call centres are the answer, until they get shipped off to India or wherever.

I don't know enough about the Rover situation but the trend in general is very alarming.

Sorry Blokes, but British industry has had years to get it together, years. Nothing wrong with British labor as the Japanese have shown. Proper management, good design, ungreedy owners and Brits can make a product even picky Japanese will buy in bundles. One of the better selling 'foreign' cars here is a Toyota built in the UK. Same goes for the US. When Bill Ford gets $22 million compensation you wonder why Ford could be in so much trouble....LOL. UK workers and US workers can be every bit as good as Japanese workers and even better. They are just being shafted by folks more interested in buying yachts, second and third homes and setting up their mistresses.
My feeling go out to those loosing theirr jobs!

like others here, I too have allways worked in manufacturing and know only too well that even when you have a good product with a good reputation it's still very difficult for UK companies.

Whatever the reasons for the demise of Rover, it would still be very sad to see 1000,s more manufacturing jobs go.

Huh :puzzled: Who's fault is it then?

This is going to make me sound like a ranting right wing Telegraph or Daily Mail reader. Nothing could be further from the truth, but I can't understand this blame culture.

Any company has to have a competitive product, and if the management of that company screw up and fail to invest in R&D over many years who else is to blame when people don't buy their antique vehicles? There is only so much flag waving that you can do to influence people that 'British is best' and they should buy into a traditional name, but the type of people who buy into that type of image have an image problem themselves. Rover to me, means old men in flat caps driving to the garden centre.

As for blaming people for the Honda or BMW debacles, how about blaming the management of the company for being in the position where they are continually dependant on another more successful company taking them over or the government bailing them out? It's not a government issue, they are a private company and should be able to stand on their own two feet. If they have a rubbish product that they're selling at a loss, a big pensions deficit and suppliers who won't supply them anymore blame the Pheonix mob, nobody else.

As for jobs in the supply chain or related industries, the writing has been on the wall for the last decade. If the management of these companies have been relying solely on MG/Rover as their bread and butter rather than diversifying then they've either been asleep or they are completely incompetent.

For anyone bemoaning the fate of Rover, hands up, who has a Rover or an MG sitting on their drive? If you do, then you've a perfect right to feel sad about their demise. If you don't, then it's just crocodile tears.

We all buy Ducatis, if our purchasing decisions led to Triumphs demise who would we point to then?

I am sorry to see peoples jobs go through the incompetence of their managers though.

[Edited on 8-4-2005 by Jools]

jools, sorry mate but thats bo77ox. Just because I dont choose to drive or own one, does not mean I dont have genuine sympathy for the peolpe affected or the loss of another british brand.

I also have some empathy for the surrounding companies who supply them because, in many cases, they may not have been able to diversify or, as I believe speaking to peolpe in that area is also the case, they set up businesses explicitly to supply Rover parts. Not everyone can, or wants to, expand.

The government do have a role to play, not only did they press the sale to BMW, but allowed the (now very wealthy!!) managers to buy out without a sound plan for turning the business around. They backed and financed it, so how come they shouldnt shoulder some of the blame??

No, the cars aint great. No they aint fashionable. Yes, they do need a whole new range. But, if a Korean or far eastern company wanted to build cars here, set upo a new plant etc, would the governmement be courting them? Would they offer grants? Possibly interest free loans? And the difference is?????






Sorry, gone into politics, must be all the rubbish falling thru my door at the mo!LOL

It's a *****ty situation for all those who work for Rover, people who've worked hard to produce the goods. Whether the cars they build are good bad or indifferent, it's not the shop floor workers fault the company is going to the wall.

Again, with the suppliers who are going to suffer - ok maybe their management should/could have foreseen the situation and looked to broaden their customer base, but the people who work on their shop floors have had no influence in their management's decisions.

Bottom line is, thousands of people who had no input to the politics/management that have created this situation are the ones who are ultimately going to suffer, and they deserve better.