4 ms·

This is just like the death throes of the Rover MG models in the UK. In 1999 (or thereabouts) I was sick of being run off the road on my motorbike and decided

This is just like the death throes of the Rover MG models in the UK. In 1999 (or thereabouts) I was sick of being run off the road on my motorbike and decided to buy a car. Being an IT contractor with silly Y2K rates going on, I had plenty of disposable cash. First dealer was Toyota, Bill Allen's of Cheltenham. The salesman looked at me, decided I didn't have money then completely ignored me. Nice. Second was an MG garage whos name escapes me. Literally every car was was wrong - either the doors didn't fit, or there was a clunk when they closed, or in one case they didn't bother fitting the rear brake light (internal) correctly and it fell off during the test drive. I have never seen such a rubbish car in my life, literally each one I saw looked like it had been built on a Friday afternoon. No wonder they went bust. Another anecdote: My boss at the time was awesome and from Birmingham, right next to the Rover/MG plant. He asked me to do a speech for his wedding anniversary, so I went along to a social club next door to the factory. I noticed there were hardly any of their own cars in the employee car park, it was all Ford, Mazda, etc. This tells its own tale, at a time where 'Buy British and save Rover' was trumpeted everywhere.

mattmanser 9y ago
Those cars were trash, worse they even looked like a bad Ford rip-off, which are themselves cheap looking cars any way.
- wbillingsley 9y ago
  I had a mini, which was a very unique and fun design, and once had a Rover Metro as a temporary car while our car was in the garage -- also a vey fun car to drive and solid as anything. Supposedly, the problem Rover hit was though their last-developed large car (Rover 75) was very good and reasonably popular, since they'd been pulled away from working with Honda by the sale to BMW, they had neither a modern middle-sized car nor a replacement for the Metro. Put that together with being passed from hand-to-hand (from BAe to BMW was 6 years, BMW to Phoenix another 6, and Phoenix lasted another 5) in an industry struggling from overproduction, and it was always problematic. Whenever Citroen, GM, etc have gone bust, their respective governments have always stepped in. Competing in a loss-making industry against government-backed competitors is one tough game.
sitharus 9y ago
The only reason I have a Toyota now is the dealer was the only one who'd actually talk to me, so she got the sale. The other dealers would only show me the cheapest cars on the lot and wander off. New Zealand's domestic car industry (where they simply connected the imported bits together) died in the late 80s when tariffs were removed and we've been better off for it.
- rangibaby 9y ago
  Who’s we? Look at all the dysfunction (eg shooting of Steven Wallace) that goes on in communities that were left to rot by the transition to a market economy. It makes me wonder if it was worth it.
  - Spooky23 9y ago
    “We” = the people who will be crying in their beer in a decade when “we” are too old to be employable and bankrupt after the end of life of 1988-2008 systems and datacenters drops the bottom out of the IT labor market. Billions are being invested in replacing that stuff today, and every one of those projects cuts staffing needs 90%. The plumbers will be there laughing at office wankers who thought they had a sweet gig.

mattmanser 9y ago

Those cars were trash, worse they even looked like a bad Ford rip-off, which are themselves cheap looking cars any way.

wbillingsley 9y ago
I had a mini, which was a very unique and fun design, and once had a Rover Metro as a temporary car while our car was in the garage -- also a vey fun car to drive and solid as anything. Supposedly, the problem Rover hit was though their last-developed large car (Rover 75) was very good and reasonably popular, since they'd been pulled away from working with Honda by the sale to BMW, they had neither a modern middle-sized car nor a replacement for the Metro. Put that together with being passed from hand-to-hand (from BAe to BMW was 6 years, BMW to Phoenix another 6, and Phoenix lasted another 5) in an industry struggling from overproduction, and it was always problematic. Whenever Citroen, GM, etc have gone bust, their respective governments have always stepped in. Competing in a loss-making industry against government-backed competitors is one tough game.

sitharus 9y ago

The only reason I have a Toyota now is the dealer was the only one who'd actually talk to me, so she got the sale. The other dealers would only show me the cheapest cars on the lot and wander off. New Zealand's domestic car industry (where they simply connected the imported bits together) died in the late 80s when tariffs were removed and we've been better off for it.

rangibaby 9y ago
Who’s we? Look at all the dysfunction (eg shooting of Steven Wallace) that goes on in communities that were left to rot by the transition to a market economy. It makes me wonder if it was worth it.
- Spooky23 9y ago
  “We” = the people who will be crying in their beer in a decade when “we” are too old to be employable and bankrupt after the end of life of 1988-2008 systems and datacenters drops the bottom out of the IT labor market. Billions are being invested in replacing that stuff today, and every one of those projects cuts staffing needs 90%. The plumbers will be there laughing at office wankers who thought they had a sweet gig.