Findings from inquiry into demise of MG Rover finished... only took 4 years and $26M
The final days of MG were disastrous and disastrously expensive. The British government finally has an accounting of what happened, but it only adds to both sides of the disaster: the report took four years and £16 million ($26 million U.S.) for CPA firm BDO Stoy Howard to compile.
For now, various government figures are upset about the delay and the cost. BDO is reported to have spent more than £130,000 ($214,000 U.S.) on hotels and expenses, leading to charges of the firm "living like kings" while MG's workers were living on government support. The report hasn't been released yet, so no one knows what it says. When it is made public, if the MG story continues as it has, what's actually in the report will probably be just as hard to swallow as the lead-up to it.
[Source: Sunday Mercury]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Art 6:09PM (6/30/2009)
but where will i get my low quality, dissolvable british cars from?
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Affalterbach 6:14PM (6/30/2009)
Land Rover has some nice cars to sell you....
paul34 6:23PM (6/30/2009)
Nowhere. I don't think there are any more major Britsh automakers left. They've all been bought out by the Germans or Indians it seems.
Affalterbach 6:52PM (6/30/2009)
Or the Chinese (MG Rover) or the Russians (TVR)
Ersdal 7:27PM (6/30/2009)
Isn't Morgan still around? Or are they also owned by others?
Bloke 8:47AM (7/01/2009)
Affalterbach: the Chinese do not own MG Rover.
MGR went bankrupt and liquidated, and then went into formal dissolution. SAIC and Nanjing then bought various assets of the dissolved company.
Bankruptcy protection (akin to US Ch 11) is easier in the UK for individuals via an IVA than it is for corporations.
Affalterbach 6:13PM (6/30/2009)
This this entire British Leyland saga cursed? First their volume manufacturers die out and now there is corruption at official levels as well?
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ryuryuryturtuy 6:17PM (6/30/2009)
That's the end they meet when some sh*tty country *aham* (qina) take control. Fortunately the same fate was avoided for other companies aka Volvo, Saab etc.
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Kaveh 7:11PM (6/30/2009)
wow, sounds like a american car company
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Mel. R 11:17PM (6/30/2009)
You know, I was thinking about MG when Chrysler and GM started to fail...
Rich 7:29PM (6/30/2009)
Just think -- if they'd released the report four and a bit months ago they could have saved $4M; but if they'd released it last July, it would have cost them $6M more!
You can't just convert pounds to dollars like that. The dollar is wildly fluctuating right now after the last government let it collapse.
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tankd0g 7:36PM (6/30/2009)
Doh. I saw the pic and thought someone had finally finished the SV. But nope, still looks like a half built kit car.
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DiRF 8:01PM (6/30/2009)
£16 million? Isn't that more money than MG/Rover's British management ran the company with before the Chinese buyout?
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Bloke 8:49AM (7/01/2009)
The Chinese did not buy out MGR. They bought some of the assets of MGR after it was dissolved.
BoxerFanatic 3:14AM (7/01/2009)
and in my crystal ball, I see.....
The future of the American Auto industry.
Gee, bureaucracy spending time and money figuring out why and how the barn door was open, long after the horse has run away, and been bought by a foreign company.
Oh, and they never figure out that they, the government bureaucrats, paid off the labor unions to open the barn door, and ignore that the horse then exited the premises.
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car industry expert 3:25AM (7/01/2009)
The Brits make the best cars, then the Germans. The Americans make the second to worst, just beating the Chinese
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car industry expert 3:26AM (7/01/2009)
The Brits make the best cars, then the Germans. The Americans make the second to worst, just beating the Chinese
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Jimothy 7:21AM (7/01/2009)
Hey, has that thing got a Hemi?
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Bloke 8:43AM (7/01/2009)
Autoblog: get your facts straight please (yet again)?
It's BDO Stoy Hayward, not BDO Stoy Howard.
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Colin Smith 9:10AM (7/01/2009)
A combination of years of appalling management combined with incompetent government intervention, and arrogant complacency, killed of the British motor industry.
We build more cars here than ever, mostly Hondas and Toyotas, but put your hands over your ears and scream they're British as much as you like; the BMINI and RR, not to mention the Bentleys, Land Rovers and Jaguars, don't feel British to me any more. Somehow the heart has gone out...
others here probably see it differently.
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