Rover Group
The Rover Group also owned the dormant trademarks from the many companies that had merged into British Leyland and its predecessors such as Triumph, Morris, Wolseley, Riley and Alvis.
In 1994, BAe sold the remaining car business of Rover Group plc to the German company BMW.
This group was privatised in 1988 by the sale of the company to British Aerospace (BAe) for £150 million,[2][4] who retained Day as joint CEO and chairman, and made Kevin Morley MD of Rover cars.
Following bids from Alchemy Partners and Phoenix Consortium, the MG division, including a collection of dormant marques and the intellectual property rights and technical designs of MG and Rover-branded vehicles as well as the Longbridge plant were sold to the Phoenix Consortium, led by John Towers, an ex-Rover Group executive.
Much smaller than its predecessors, the MG Rover Group struggled as it continued the heritage of building cars at the Longbridge plant.
The range further expanded in 2003 with the launch of the smallest model, the Indian-built CityRover, built as part of a venture with TATA, the Rover Streetwise, a restyled version of the Rover 25 with SUV-like styling, and a flagship model, the MG XPower SV, based on the Qvale Mangusta.
Following the collapse of a proposed venture with Malaysian carmaker Proton, in June 2004 Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation signed a joint venture partnership to develop new models and technologies with MG Rover, with the projection to produce up to a million cars a year, with the production shared between the Longbridge site and locations in China.
However, the National Development and Reform Commission held the opinion that if BMW could not make a success of Rover, then it would be hard for SAIC to do so.
A 33-year deal was signed in February 2006 between Nanjing Auto and St. Modwen Properties covering the lease of 105 acres (a quarter of the total area of the Longbridge plant) but including the two main car assembly plants, the paint shop and administrative offices at a rent of around £1.8 million a year.
The 1989 Rover 200 was a strong seller throughout its life and its successor continued this trend, though its final year of production (1999) saw a significant dip in sales.
[citation needed] The Rover 200 had been around since 1988 as the Longbridge-built Honda Concerto, which offered a higher level of equipment but only achieved a fraction of its sales.
May 1990 saw Rover give the decade-old Metro a major reworking, which most notably included internal and external restyling, as well as new 1.1 and 1.4 K-Series petrol engines.
The new Metro offered some of the best standards of specification in any supermini at the time,[citation needed] and it sold well until being replaced by the Rover 100 (essentially another update of the original 1980 design) in December 1994.
The Rover 100 remained in production for three years, selling reasonably well, until it was discontinued after a dismal crash test performance that saw demand fall dramatically.
Its demise marked the passing of the last design from the British Leyland era of the company with production ceasing at the end of 1997.
This was down in part to the pricing and model restrictions BMW (Rover group's owner) had placed on the 600 series and its very close ties with the more downmarket Honda Accord.
Unlike the Metro, which had received a major reengineering and was rebadged a Rover, the two last bastions from the British Leyland era had become increasingly uncompetitive in the marketplace and were kept in production merely to cater for the budget end of the market and for sale to fleets, as the newer Rover badged models were pushed further upmarket compared to rivals from Ford and General Motors (Vauxhall/Opel).
By 1994 the Montego saloon was only available to special order, and the Maestro was produced in basic 'Clubman' trim with either 1.3 petrol or 2.0 diesel power.
In September 1995, production of the Maestro was moved to Varna, Bulgaria, where it was sold in complete knock down (CKD) kit form by Rodacar AD.
By April 1996, around 2,000 vehicles had been produced before the company ceased its operations due to high import costs of the components and low demand for the cars.
A number of former Bulgarian cars were also sold in the UK by Apple 2000 Ltd, located in Culford, Bury St Edmunds.
These vehicles, which were sold between 1998 and 2001, were similar to the Ledbury Maestro, but can be differentiated by their left-hand drive windscreen wipers and door mirrors.
Powered by a 1.8 16-valve mid-mounted engine, it was an instant hit with buyers thanks to its distinctive styling and excellent ride and handling.
