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Mg Rover GroupMG 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. History British Leyland 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. Edwardes also implemented a ruthless programme of cutbacks and factory closures which saw the death of many of famous British marques. To reflect the resulting two-brand strategy, BL was renamed as the Austin Rover Group in 1982, and this was shortened in 1986 to simply the Rover Group. 1986–2002 timeline - 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
Changing owners When BMW sold off its interests, MG Rover was bought for a nominal 1 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 http://www.forbes.com/2001/06/20/0620mg.html. British Leyland had links with India going back to 1948, but Tata was associated with Daimler of Germany until 2001. Recent history In June, 2004, it was learned that Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation had signed a Joint Venture partnership to develop new models and technologies with MG Rover. This led to much speculation among the British media suggesting the Chinese company were poised to launch a takeover. Later that year, in November, news broke of an agreement between the two companies to create a joint venture company to produce up to a million cars a year, with the production shared between MG Rover's Longbridge site and locations in China. SAIC were to have a 70% stake in this company in return for a 1 billion investment, with MG Rover owning the remaining 30%. However, this agreement is still to be ratified by the Chinese government. On December 8, 2004, Tata of India, which had cooperated over the export of the Tata Indica as the CityRover, threatened ceasing its agreement with MG Rover if the SAIC tie-up went ahead, according to the Indian press. Tata claimed the report was inaccurate two days later. In January 2005, it was revealed that British Prime Minister Tony Blair had intervened to support the alliance between MG Rover and SAIC. MG Rover could not give a date on which the agreement would be finalized. Figures released by the company showed that the sale of Rover-branded cars fell in 2004 compared to 2003.
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