75ZT Community

I along with 6,000 other Brummies where told to go home and watch the news for updates on the future of the Longbridge factory. Little did we know that April 11th would be the last morning that most of us would spend in the plant.
65 years of unbroken family service to the company ended on that day

65! blimey.

Just edited my post - 65 years of unbroken family service - it read before as if i did 65 years of service i am not that old

Sad, obviously for the workers but also for the nation.

I am a great fan of the P6 and whilst MG Rover was not the independent Rover Company the 75 is (I am not going to say was as there are still fans of it) a superb machine.

Perhaps if the company had been run differently or the Government had found a way of moving ownership and giving support what would be being produced now.

Sad times for everyone.

Very sad indeed, I reckon if it were to happen this week instead of 7 years ago it may of been a very different story.

I remember it well as I knew a few people there, including some that are still at what's left of Longbridge now. I believe there were some out in China at the time. Can you imagine what it was like for them, too?

Dallas wrote:Very sad indeed, I reckon if it were to happen this week instead of 7 years ago it may of been a very different story.

Yes, I think you could well be correct. That rubbish Government of the time just wanted rid yet they gave money to everyone else & their cousins!

it should not of ended how it did the whole matter was f'd up big time...... the government/press at the time rather put the knife in and the phoenix lot did not help . the sv should of been put on hold and the replacement for the 45 worked on... and oh so many mistakes.. it cost a lot of jobs and i wish i had known about the first pol , i didn't know till it was done, i've done all but 2 POL's to date and i understand the next will be a 2 day event to mark the 10th ann. of POL ....

Which of the vehicles were the most profitable?

If the 75 perhaps MG Rover needed to concentrate more up market.

the metro/100 sold well but when it got caned rover did not replace it till the city rover and by then it was to late and over priced leaving rover with a hole in there range...

I think the problem was Rover couldn't decide what it's market was. Niche or mass market. You can't do both. For mass market you need to make them desirable but be able to turn them out for peanuts in vast quantities which is tricky. For Niche you won't sell so many, and you need to understand and accept that in your planning. Making a car that's expensive to make (compared to say Opel) and then trying to sell loads by giving big discounts to shift volume just ruins the secondhand market.

But there were just soooo many rubbish decisions in my opinion. The V8 75/ZT is a lovely beast, but I'd lay money it never made a penny, as it would have cost sackloads to convert to RWD. Look at all of the parts that are unique to V8. Other than the engine and box, most of those would have had to be developed, and the tooling paid for. SV is a similar story, and what was the Le Mans thing all about?

Why is the 100 not being replaced a hole in the range? Audi manage very well without something that basic. Even the A1 (and the A2 before) are at least 200/25 class or even heading towards 400/45.

What really killed them though in my opinion was the lack of a partner to share platform development with. Developing a car from scratch cost a small mint, and even the big boys do sharing. It was OK when Honda were the partner, and even with BMW there was a chance to share stuff. They were trying to set up a deal with the Chinese, but from what I've read poor business acumen from those involved in the discussions sold them down the river. Mind you I'm always suspicious of anything I read, because the authors often have a motive.

Not been on for a while and missed the sad anniversary.

Can't believe it's been 7 years.

Drove an MG6 yestreday - not impressed. Was glad to get back in my ZT. Quality even after all this time.

starbug2 wrote:the metro/100 sold well but when it got caned rover did not replace it till the city rover and by then it was to late and over priced leaving rover with a hole in there range...

It had been replaced - The New Mini but we know what happened to that.

The mid car was ready too in 2000 but that was kept/stolen by B** & became what we know as the 1 Series so from this point of view this was bad luck indeed but couldn't be helped by the remaining management. The next mid sized car was also lost when WSR went bust along with 3 or 4 prototypes in 2002.

Then of course that German manufacturer kept Landrover too.

Aurora MG wrote:It had been replaced - The New Mini but we know what happened to that.

Mini was not a replacement for the 100. Not ever. Wrong class of car, wrong target market and never meant to be. And BMW paid for the project so they turned it into a massive success.

The mid car was ready too in 2000 but that was kept/stolen by B** & became what we know as the 1 Series so from this point of view this was bad luck indeed but couldn't be helped by the remaining management.

Not sure where you heard that, but even if there was a car ready in 2000, then again BMW did not steal it, they had paid for it. But I'm rather doubtful there was a model ready anytime in 2000 when it hadn't been started in mid 1999. And to say it became the 1 series? So BMW took a front wheel drive design, and decided that rather than do their own design they would convert someone elses design to rear wheel drive?

The next mid sized car was also lost when WSR went bust along with 3 or 4 prototypes in 2002.

You may be right, but I thought it was TWR that went under and caused that?

Then of course that German manufacturer kept Landrover too.

Eh? Sold it to Ford, who sold it to Tata. Or did you mean something else?

We were shown the prototype that became the One Series when we had the Longbridge visit earlier this year.

Please correct me if I am wrong but it was my understanding that the Metro was supposed to be the replacement for the Mini. As it turned out production of the Metro ended before the Mini and must be the only time that a replacement has ceased production before the model it was replacing.

PaulT wrote:Please correct me if I am wrong but it was my understanding that the Metro was supposed to be the replacement for the Mini. As it turned out production of the Metro ended before the Mini and must be the only time that a replacement has ceased production before the model it was replacing.

Not the only time, though. Citroen 2CV / Dyane / Ami.

As Bernard says above this is what we saw at Longbridge Relating to the 1 series