SAIC new Brand - Roewe

[hazik]

Nanjing owns the MG brand, all the models from MGrover Nanjing builds will have use the MG brand. Will SAIC buy Rover so Nanjing will use MG and SAIC use rover. If they don't buy the Rover brand from BMW can they use a similar name like Rovver or Roverz or Roverr. Rolls Royce and Bentley make the same cars but Rolls Royce is owned by BMW and Bentley is owned by volkswagen/audi, the nanjing MG SAIC rover will be similar to rolls royce bentley.

[MartinW]

Is this true? I have seen posts elsewhere quoting the Birmingham News that say that SAIC have secured the Rover brand for US$21 or thereabouts.

[AXLE]

I believe they did, check this thread mate

https://www.chinacarforums.com/forum/...read.php?t=767

[MartinW]

I should have said US$21million, of course! Thanks, Axle, I had seen that post but wasn't sure as it said reports elsewhere. Our Birmingham News reports a similar story but it seems strangely quiet on all the news releases if this is official. The trouble with the UK press is that they are quick to report rumour rather than substantiated fact - part of the problem relating to the discussions with SAIC in the first place - they were not too keen on the publicity that was surrounding their talks.

Axle, I see you are in Adelaide, and I gather from another post that NAC-MG (Nanjing) have apparently been in talks with HSV - do you know anything more from your part of the world?

[AXLE]

Nope, haven't heard anything about Nanjing and HSV doing buisiness together. HSV (Holden Special Vehicles), since its conception, has mainly focused on Holden branded vehicles so for me it would be strange to hear that they would do tuning for an outside company, but you never know.

[phaeton]

HSV is part owned by TWR who I think do engineering for other Auto brands.

So TWR may be doing some engineering projects for SAIC.

HSV History - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden_Special_Vehicles

[MartinW]

Oh dear, TWR! Part of the reason MG Rover went pear shaped - they did much of the work here in the UK on the 45 replacement until TWR went into receivership a few years ago meaning all the work done was on hold for a while before being brought in-house.

Anyway, I will keep searching for more definite news of the brand and whether BMW have sold it. I'll let you know if I see anything for definite in teh way of a press release.

[MartinW]

On Brit-Car forums this has been posted...it may explain the lack of news reports.

(The Birmingham Post Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Shanghai Automotive - one of the failed bidders for MG Rover - has bought the Rover name for pounds 11.5 million.

Shanghai will announce this month it has bought the right to use the marque from BMW, which kept rights to the name after it pulled out of Rover in 2000.

BMW last night denied a sale, but The Birmingham Post understands a press conference will take place on August 22. A new badge has been designed.

Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) beat off competition for the name from Nanjing Automobile, the company which bought the assets of the Longbridge firm for pounds 53 million last year.

The name is likely to be used on the new Rover 25s and 75s SAIC plans to produce this year. A stretch version of the Rover 75 is also planned by SAIC, which won intellectual property rights to the cars.

The Shanghai enterprise, which has worked with General Motors and Volkswagen, plans to invest pounds 900 million to launch 30 models with its own technology over five years.

An industry insider said: "Nanjing really wanted the brand, but only offered pounds 500,000 because they didn't think BMW would sell to someone else. Nanjing thought they should have got it because they are at Long bridge and are carrying on the tradition. It is a UK name and part of the UK motoring heritage, they never thought BMW would dare sell to anyone else.

"Nanjing thought there would be pressure from press and public to keep the Rover name here, but it never happened. SAIC wants to sell cars on the international market and must have an international brand."

Peter Cooke, professor of automotive industry management at Nottingham Business School, said: "It would be logical for Shanghai to buy the Rover name as they have aspirations to get into Europe, although how strong the name is after all the years in the mire is another matter.

"Rover is a global brand and the Chinese are obsessional about brands. It is a high price, but brands are worth a lot of money and take a long time to build up. This is a brand that is available and could kick start their plans to sell internationally."

[mgrovernut]

I wonder if SsangYong will be renamed Rover in Europe. It would be a good move IMHO as SsangYong doesn't sound very good over here and because rover is a recognised brand. Also the link with Land Rover would be helpfull...

[MartinW]

One of the restrictions BMW imposed on Phoenix when they were licensed to use the Rover name was that it could not be used on a 4x4. This was at Ford's insistence because in the USA, most people call a Land Rover a Rover. Ford had right of first refusal were BMW ever to sell the Rover brand, but presumably with Ford entrenched in its own problems they were unable to protect the Land Rover brand. I assume that the sale of the Rover name to SAIC will not be with any restrictions on how it is used.
I wonder if BMW will now sell off the Riley and Triumph names it still owns. There was talk in the late 90s of a slightly sportier 75 to be badged as a Riley, and then this year there were rumours about a MINI floorpan being used for a small Triumph sportscar, but ntohing further happened, I think BMW decided not to go ahead with the Triumph idea. Triumph, in this case, refers to the cars, and is nothing to do Triumph motorcycles.