The MG Rover Group reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

MG Rover Group

MG Rover are the largest independent manufacturer of cars in the British motor industry. They came from the de-merger of the two historic marques of MG and Rover from BMW in 2000. They are based in Longbridge in Birmingham, on a site that has been a car factory since the Austin company was founded there in 1905.

MG Rover are the heirs of the British Leyland Motor Corporation, which was formed in 1968 as the result of mergers between many British car firms. In 1975 British Leyland was nationalised due to financial difficulties.

BL's new chairman Sir Michael Edwardes saw that the only way to make the company competitive again was to collaborate with the Japanese. In 1979, he began negotiations with Honda to co-develop new models and to share manufacturing facilities. The first product of this relationship was the Triumph Acclaim, and led to a long succession of Honda-influenced Rover badged models.

In 1986 it was renamed as the Rover Group. Subsequent history was as follows:

• 1986 Leyland Trucks subdivision sold to DAF; Split into two with the Van side became independent LDV in 1993, and the Truck side sold to Paccar of the USA.
• 1986 Leyland Bus floated off; bought by Volvo in 1988
• 1987 Unipart spare parts division sold off via management buyout
• 1988 Rover Group privatised; sold to British Aerospace
• 1994 Rover Group sold to BMW; 17-year collaboration with Honda ends
• 2000 Land Rover sold to Ford
• 2000 Mini retained by BMW
• 2000 Remainder of company now independent as the MG Rover Group
• 2001 MG Rover bought Qvale of Italy
• 2002 MG Rover agrees to collaborate with Tata of India

When BMW sold off its interests, MG Rover was bought for a nominal £10 by a specially-assembled group of businessmen known as the Phoenix Consortium. The consortium was headed by ex-Rover Chief Executive John Towers.

The links with other companies developed since 2000 presumably draw on MG Rover's history. Qvale was once the primary US importer of MGs, a relationship that started back in 1947 [1]. British Leyland had links with India going back to 1948, but Tata was associated with Daimler of Germany until 2001.

Table of contents

1 Models 2 Brands 3 See Also 4 Sources

Models

A brief list of the various Rover badged models which have been produced since the Honda tie-up is given below:

• 1981 Triumph Acclaim (re-badged Honda Ballade)
• 1984 Mk.1 Rover 200-series (re-badged Honda Ballade)
• 1986 Mk.1 Rover 800-series (Joint development also producing the Honda Legend)
• 1989 Mk.2 Rover 200-series (Joint development also producing the Honda Concerto)
• 1990 Rover Metro (revamped version of BL/Austin Metro)
• 1990 Rover 400-series (saloon and estate version of 200-series)
• 1992 Mk.2 Rover 800-series & Coupe
• 1993 Rover 600-series (based on Honda Accord)
• 1994 Mk.2 Rover 400-series (rebadged Honda Civic 5-door and Rover only saloon)
• 1995 Mk.3 Rover 200-series (developed in-house)
• 1995 MGF
• 1998 Rover 75 (developed during BMW ownership)
• 2000 Rover 200 and Rover 400 rebadged Rover 25 and Rover 45, respectively

The model line by 2000 was the Mini , MGF sports car (now the TF), plus the Rover 25, 45 and 75 - small, medium and large family cars. Since then there has been some diversification - MG badged versions of the Rovers (ZR, ZS and ZT respectively) with sportier performance and handling, then (bizarrely) a MG van (the MG Express), followed by the Rover Streetwise (a 25 with off-road styling), the bottom-of-the-market Cityrover made by Tata in India, and the exotic Qvale-derived £75,000 MG X-power SV sports car. This may spearhead a return to the US markets abandoned in 1991.

In 2001,2002 & 2003 the company raced in the light LMP675 class at the Le Mans 24-hour race with special cars designed in collaboration with Lola.

Brands

Many car brands that were formerly the property of British Leyland have passed on to MG Rover. The brands of Alvis and Jaguar (including Daimler and Lanchester, as well as the American rights to Vanden Plas) were sold off by British Leyland before it became Rover Group, and Land Rover was sold to Ford in the BMW days.

These brands are owned by MG Rover:

• 1895 Wolseley
• 1905 Austin
• 1912 Morris
• 1913 Vanden Plas (outside the US & Canada)
• 1923 MG created by Morris
• 1952 Austin-Healey created by Austin
• 1987 Sterling created as a separate brand in the US by the Rover Group
• ???? Qvale (see above)

These brands are owned by BMW:

• 1959 Mini originally used as a sub-brand on the Morris versions of the car (the Austin version was called the Austin Se7en). Made a brand in its own right by British Leyland in 1969
• 1898 Riley
• 1904 Rover (This is licensed to MG Rover)
• 1923 Triumph as a car brand - the motorcycle brand owned is by Triumph Motorcycles

These brands are owned by Ford:

• 1947 Jaguar
• 1892 Daimler
• 1898 Lanchester
• 1959 Vanden Plas (US & Canada Rights Only)
• 1947 Land Rover (Created by Rover)

These brands are owned by others:

• 1??? Alvis Alvis Vickers Ltd (makers of Tanks for the British Army)
• 1903 Standard (Unaccounted for)
• 1924 BSA used as a car brand. (Retained by Birmingham Small Arms, on sale to Jaguar in 1960. Current owner BSA Regal Group)

The dates given are those of the first car of each name, but these are often debatable as each car may be several years in development.

See Also

• List of British companies
• For history before 1986 see British Leyland Motor Corporation

Sources

• Model-by-model history & brand-name ownership http://austin-rover.co.uk/
• Official site http://www.mg-rover.co.uk/
• http://www.team.net/www/morgan/history/linage.html
• http://www.mgxtreme.co.uk/history/history.php
• http://www.alvis.plc.uk/
• http://www.alviscars.co.uk/
• http://www.ownajag.com/jaguar-history.html
• http://members.fortunecity.com/routeman68/history.htm - Leyland Truck & Bus
• http://www.dloc.org.uk/main.htm - Daimler, Lanchester and BSA