MG SAIC close longbridge facility

[victorgte]

I'm guessing Mike's car will have any updates done before delivery. Car is stored at Longbridge. Here's hoping.......

[sworks]

Hopefully MG UK will have the foresight to let Gaydon motor museum take the cars from the museum in the conference centre and also Lord Austin’s office before they are lost forever, it’s like 2005 all over again.....

[madeupname]

I don't know if anyone else has mentioned this, but with at least two empty car plants, one in Swindon and another near Sunderland, is it time for an entrapenuer (sp) to take them over and restart British car manufacturing?
Of course in todays climate they would have to be electric vehicles.
Anybody heard anything?

[victorgte]

Originally Posted by madeupname

I don't know if anyone else has mentioned this, but with at least two empty car plants, one in Swindon and another near Sunderland, is it time for an entrapenuer (sp) to take them over and restart British car manufacturing?
Of course in todays climate they would have to be electric vehicles.
Anybody heard anything?

I've suggested in another thread that we will never see a British car manufacturer again. JLR is owned by TATA but even that seems destined to be moved abroad to use cheaper labour.
Yes, Swindon is ideal and there is still the Mini building at Longbridge which is up to date and modern. I can't see any individual doing it and I can't see a major group taking on those sites.
Having said all that it is rumoured PSA will buy JLR. One of the few car makers still in profit and may just turn around JLR? So it moves from Indian to French owned!

[trikey]

All the empty sites will end up as either new housing, or warehousing for the likes of amazon etc.

As a manufacturing centre, Britain is dead.

Makes me sad to think that we were world leaders in manufacturing and designing the best cars in the world.

[Dallas]

Originally Posted by trikey

All the empty sites will end up as either new housing, or warehousing for the likes of amazon etc.

As a manufacturing centre, Britain is dead.

Makes me sad to think that we were world leaders in manufacturing and designing the best cars in the world.

So very true Andy, will most probably be a modern private housing development with many being apartments. You wont find a British company taking on the development either, it will be an overseas contractor.

Originally Posted by victorgte

As the MG sales Manager told Mike, he can get it serviced anywhere as long as original parts are used.

He lives just 4 houses away from me so I'm sure I will get plenty of feedback on his new purchase.


Hopfully I can update this thread every year with some positive news?

I don't think its just the MG brand that struggle to offer good after sales service, its all manufactures. It seems difficult to get any new part for a new vehicle these days, the stock just isn't available.

When I bought the Dacia Stepway we also considered the MG GS, but we chose the Dacia for its three cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, the attraction was the £30 a year tax bracket. We were quite impressed by the medium to large car type/mini SUV sized vehicle, as most low VED bracket cars are small sized, the Dacia broke the mould.

Yes we could get it serviced by any garage mechanic as long as new parts were fitted, or a Dacia or Renault agent. Dacia were moving their servicing over to Renault, so we thought we were it good hands. This was until we needed some new parts, this is when we found the parts were not available in the UK, and would take some time to be shipped from abroad.

Friends of ours had similar issues with their Ford, the problem seems to be widespread. New cars and their components are being built with a large percentage of recycled plastic being used, all designed to help the environment. A new car end of life is considerably shorter these days, purposely designed with recycling in mind, during its build and after its life.

[Comfortably Numb]

Originally Posted by mss

The UK workforce was relatively small and focused on design.

This move was inevitable - what reason would there be to retain a UK technical centre once all the design knowhow has been consumed by the parent comp-any?

IMO design location will always follow production unless there are overriding political or commercial imperatives stopping it.

This does raise the question of why anybody in the UK would buy an expensive new EV from a company given that it could easily stop supporting it if UK presence no longer made financial sense.

Which then begs the question "Whose cars are we going to buy?", being as every mass manufacturer seems to be reducing their UK commitments and investment significantly, and investing elsewhere.

[Comfortably Numb]

Alternatively, as we head for a situation where, like Cuba, we are left with a stock of ageing cars, and no dealership support, an entrepreneur designs electric motor conversion packs, complete with regenerative braking, ready mounted on a compatible subframe, for all our most popular ex-British manufactured cars - all parts manufactured here, of course. I'm sure the European manufacturers will be happy to keep selling us parts for the cars they have made, even if they attract an import tarif. (which may not happen).

[kaiser]

anyone with a bit of sense of history, will stick to an older car.
the new ones will spy on you, stop automatically if you don't pay your speeding fines, congestion charges, parking infringements, maintenance support, taxes, global warming levies etc etc.
The future is almost here.
That leaves room for an old Rover P4! and such. They will continue to go as long as you just feed them! and they can be fixed with a hammer and some bailing wire!
No EMF, network breakdown or G5 will stop them!
Any governments nightmare!

[victorgte]

Originally Posted by kaiser

anyone with a bit of sense of history, will stick to an older car.
the new ones will spy on you, stop automatically if you don't pay your speeding fines, congestion charges, parking infringements, maintenance support, taxes, global warming levies etc etc.
The future is almost here.
That leaves room for an old Rover P4! and such. They will continue to go as long as you just feed them! and they can be fixed with a hammer and some bailing wire!
No EMF, network breakdown or G5 will stop them!
Any governments nightmare!

I’m liking your thinking but I sold both my Scimitars a few years ago. Fuel, spark and compression and they would run. Simple to fix and in 13 years only one breakdown.
My Streetwise diesel is hardly ancient but it’s simple design makes it run and run with minimum of fuss. Hold on to your older cars.