New Chinese take-away opens!

[grober]

The Nanjiing Automobile company has just reopened the Longbridge assembly plant for the MG-TF sports car. Projected production is 3,000 cars a year if there is demand?? ONLY 250 employees at the moment. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6312917.stm

QUOTE:- I remember reading about Admiral Nelson and his message about England expects every man to do his duty," said James Lin, Nanjing's operations director. "Now we want the British people to support us."
Looks like a token "made in England" gesture to maintain the " heritage" of the marque.
Would anyone in their right mind in the UK buy one of these cars.

 

[glojo]

Was it the British worker that bought about the demise of our once proud car industry?

John

 

[Rose Chap]

I'm sure people will buy the cars if they are cheap enough. Heritage or lack thereof is clearly not a huge barrier to sales. Look at Lexus.

 

[R2e]

Was it the British worker that bought about the demise of our once proud car industry?

John

It was partially. The bloody mindedness and the strikes put paid to production schedules and allowed the opposition in big style. It was also the arrogance of management in believing they had a world beating product when the Japanese, to name but one, were p***ing all over them in their main markets.

Examples are legion, when the Range Rover arrived in the part of Africa where I worked ('71 I think) the first thing the local dealer had to do was go down to the hardware store for a couple of toilet door type sliding bolts to fit to the rear window to stop it popping open on a dirt road! It was also impossible to keep the dust out, not good when most of the roads were unmade. If you hit an animal on the road (pigs, goats were the most common) the steering link across the front of the car bent and you were steering straight according to the steering wheel, both wheels were pointing right, result - a nice roll. (We fitted our Range Rovers with a contraption made of angle iron attached to and below the bumper, known as a 'goat repellant' to avoid this problem) Along came Toyota with the Land Cruiser, Isuzu, Nissan, etc, demonstrably more reliable, better equipped, and a lot cheaper. BL's view was that the Range Rover was a 'premium vehicle' and therefore better than the oppostion and worth a higher price. Sadly the customers voted with their feet.

I used to have reps from all over the world trying to sell me stuff and again the British were, by and large, the most inept. Unaware of who their competitors were and usually shocked at the prices the competition was offering, they had a belief that being British their stuff must be best and therefore people would queue up to buy from them. Whatta mistaka to maka! The classic was when the rep from Automotive Products (Lockheed, Borg and Beck, Hepolite, all those famous names of the past) phoned me at home on a local public holiday. He hadn't checked with the embassy before planning his trip!

It was sad to watch the decline. When commonwealth countries started removing the lower import duty rate enjoyed by British products, that was the final straw, the products became even more expensive and customers just didn't buy them. Mercedes still sold well (cars and trucks) as they were genuinely a premium product and a status symbol, but virtually none of the other European marques prospered as they didn't have as big a foothold as the British products. Strangely, GM products from Australia (Holden), Germany (Opel) and South Africa (Chev) still did quite well. At the time they were indeed better products, probably why the first Cavalier was based on the Opel Ascona...............

 

[MBManInKen]

The bloody mindedness and the strikes put paid to production schedules and allowed the opposition in big style.

Well, I can't really comment on the British situation of those days, but if it is any consolation, it's not British perse. My fellow Belgians are currently playing this game. There has always been a strong car assembly sector in Belgium, even if there hasn't been a Belgian marque for decades.

Companies like Volvo, VW, Ford, Opel etc all have factories in Belgium.

There have been quite a few restructuring exercises over the last number of years and Fiat closed a large factory a few years ago with thousands of people losing their jobs.

Rather than trying to address some of the issues around productivity and labour costs, what has been the reaction? Strikes and unrest and more strikes and unrest. Is this going to persuade these big multinationals to stay in Belgium and give more models to the factories there? I don't think so. Soon, they'll all be without a job. Not the best strategy I have ever seen!

 

[Dieselman]

It was also the arrogance of management in believing they had a world beating product when the Japanese, to name but one, were p***ing all over them in their main markets.

Sad to say but I wholeheartedly agree with this post. Both Unions and management wrecked a number of major manufacturing industries in the UK.

When Toyota setup the manufacturing plant at Burnaston they wouldn't employ anyone who had been in the car industry..I wonder why?

My BiL came from Cowly near Oxford and had a stint on 'the line'. He says that everyone round Oxford drove BL cars as their mates would throw parts over the fence for them and also the production line often ran out of parts because there was no proper accounting. parts were fetched in buckets and when the bucket was empty more were fetched. No questions.

 

[Brian WH]

The Nanjiing Automobile company has just reopened the Longbridge assembly plant for the MG-TF sports car. Projected production is 3,000 cars a year if there is demand?? ONLY 250 employees at the moment

3000 cars a year??? So what are these 250 men doing???

My guess is not "Producing" but "Assembling" using only parts shipped in from China.

That is not much good to our economy is it, no outsourcing from British Part manufacturers??

Much as I liked the original MGs I wouldn't put more money into Chinese pockets buying a so called new one.

 

[glojo]

My BiL came from Cowly near Oxford and had a stint on 'the line'. He says that everyone round Oxford drove BL cars as their mates would throw parts over the fence for them and also the production line often ran out of parts because there was no proper accounting. parts were fetched in buckets and when the bucket was empty more were fetched. No questions.

Many years ago the same things happened at both Ford and Vauxhall. I remember reading about a worker being caught driving out the car park with a brand new Vauxhall Cresta (showing my age) The reason he got caught was because the idiot fitted white walled tyres which at the time were export only!

I think we all need to wake up to what the Chinese are doing. My daughter has recently returned from a trip to America; all the trinkets she bought for us were made in........ China. We bought an observatory from Australia and we have just noticed the solar panel seal had gone. The Australian supplier has very kindly replaced this panel and yes.... It was made in China. Taking over British Leyland is just another step into what is going on. They are even buying our refuse\rubbish, although I do wonder how much of this will be reconstituted into an MG sports car

John

 

[R2e]

Many years ago the same things happened at both Ford and Vauxhall. I remember reading about a worker being caught driving out the car park with a brand new Vauxhall Cresta (showing my age) The reason he got caught was because the idiot fitted white walled tyres which at the time were export only!

That must have been the PA Cresta if it had whitewalls, the curve around windsreen with the cut out below the ends. A lovely looking car at the time.

 

[scumbag]

This thread has made me chuckle. I am far to young to remember Red Robbo (Ahem) but the thought of Led lobbo has me doubled up on the floor!

roll on british unions practices in the communist state of that great fireworks manufacturer!

Actually, in case anyone gets on my case, I have China on my list of places to visit before i sling God out if his seat and take over the heavens!!

 

[Dieselman]

3000 cars a year??? So what are these 250 men doing???

My guess is not "Producing" but "Assembling" using only parts shipped in from China.

That is not much good to our economy is it, no outsourcing from British Part manufacturers??

Much as I liked the original MGs I wouldn't put more money into Chinese pockets buying a so called new one.

12 cars per man is about right for a UK car plant.

 

[scumbag]

Rather than trying to address some of the issues around productivity and labour costs, what has been the reaction? Strikes and unrest and more strikes and unrest. Is this going to persuade these big multinationals to stay in Belgium and give more models to the factories there? I don't think so. Soon, they'll all be without a job. Not the best strategy I have ever seen!

Now isnt that an interesting lesson? You would have thought perhaps they might have taken a look at the UK car industry in the '70's. I do recall seeing the exact same thing here.

In fact the Japanese had the same problems, but they came up with a solution to the striking workers....namely the barracaded them out of the factory, got to grips with how things needed to work and invited them back in to share in the work place, with ideas and progressive thinking. Its a wonder you dont see a Japanese more often on the roads, what with them all breaking down and only selling 4 a year etc etc

 

[big x]

Car making is an international business these days I don't see it makes any difference who owns the shares,certainly not to those working on the production line.The Japanese makers here export much of their production.For example 75% of Nissan UK cars go to Europe.Some Swindon Hondas go to Japan.Both have major UK component content.All good news as they pay taxes and wages here.
All Audi TT's are made in Hungary.In fact the UK is the biggest export market for them.In other words cars are made all over the place and the UK is still a major player, the last time I looked around 1.6 million cars where made here sometimes its more !
British car design talent works all over the word, for example Steve Mattin now design head of Volvo (replacing another Brit Peter Horbury) designed the Mercedes A and S-class.
In some ways I'm reminded of the British film industry,stop the man in the street and he thinks there isn't one.In fact there is more film shot in the London area than any city in the World after LA. Add together pop promos,commercials,TV films and dramas and it's an enormous industry.The number of pop videos made here is more than the creative wastelands of Europe put together. I do remember one hit from I think from Belgium...Plastic Bertram !
In the late 1980's I was working for a camera hire company providing the gear for the first Batman film being shot at Pinewood. One of the locations was the Jokers lair which was filmed at the standby power station in Acton.
I remember one of the locals asked me what was going on and he didn't believe me when I said the power station was being used as a set.Just as I said that Jack Nicholson drove past in the back of a Range Rover !

adam

 

[big x]

So does anybody think the MG-TF sports will be a success?
It was the UK's best selling roadster but surely it's time has come and gone.
Never best in class and it ain't going to be a classic so I'm a bit baffled.
The Rover 75 rebirth though stands a good chance of making it. Saloons are the
big seller in China.The company concerned got the whole car and production line for less than BMW originally spent developing the rear Z-axle design alone. The rear suspension was originally developed for the E46 3-series and modified for FWD.
I've never had a Rover 75 but I bought the Haynes manual recently and it's clear there is a fair amount of BMW design practice in it. Autocar drove one in China a couple of weeks ago and it did look quite good.

adam

 

[timskemp]

BigX - I hope the TF is a success. I had great times driving them (used to get them on loan when the 75 I had at the time was in for frequent repairs) and they outsold the competition on many fronts:

1. More space than the MR2
2. Larger range of fit for drivers than the Mazda
3. Wider engine range, and an auto
4. Mid engine, rear drive.
5. Price.

The TF with the revised suspension was a really good car to drive, and the K series engines though needing careful looking after were very good also - I had a rover 414 for 160k miles.

The 75 was brilliant, better ride and drive than the X type, despite the X type having AWD. I enjoyed mine but it was an early one, cowley built and suffered a huge number of failures.