Rover's Return...?

[scruff]

Picked this up from the CCW facebook page.

 

http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/news/local-news/world-ready-rovers-return-8478247

 

Now it's possibly* over-excitement on the part of the BLARG writer who is quoted but I reckon it could work, the car would have to be the dog's danglies which JLR are capable of doing if they put their mind to it.

[Felly Magic]

I doubt it will return somehow, the Rover brand on it's own reeks of OMFGHGF. I suspect a slow news day, so they made up a load of cack

[warren t claim]

Slow news week at Classic Car Weakly.

 

I'm 44 and the Rover brand to me means the badly built SD1 and Hondover products with serious design flaws.

[Matt]

If it were true it would just be like the New Beetle, MINI, 500 and the current MG lineup; innocent enough cars smothered in hideous, hideous marketing with no real connection to the much loved* brands/models that came some decades before. My verdict: Nowt to get excited about even if it does turn out to be true. If it does come true at least it's a British marque being utilized by a currently British-ish company rather than the Germans and Chinese.

 

Maybe we should band together to make vintage looking cars and sell them in Germany as Borgwards, see how they like it.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I know I'm a bit weird,but I've always thought of the XF as really being a Rover not a Jag. Relatively mass market 'executive' transport for senior sales/ management, junior board level. Meant to appeal to those who value wood n leather over Teutonic efficiency Most are 2.2 diesels with the wonky single exhaust, a truer replacement for the SD1 and 800 it's hard to imagine.

 

As for digging up the Rover badge,I can see no possible advantage, my 24 year old daughter is using our 600 at the moment and loves it. But,none of her friends have got a clue what it is,or what Rover was. Most are impressed by the leather and wood and think it must be an Audi or Merc! These are the potential customers in a few years and to them Rover has less image than Kia or Hyundai,sad but true.

[Junkman]

I guess Ford could dust off the Edsel badge just as well.

How desperately* the World needs resurrected car brands, we currently see with OMGMG, and recently saw with Maybach.

I bet the latter would have sold a treat had someone been smart enough to badge them as Mercedesesses.

 

Now where is my new Studebaker?

[cort16]

It'll not be the same without Dierdrie Barlow.

[AnthonyG]

I have to say unlikely at the moment, although I could see it coming back in about 20 years or so when rotten 213s and HGF will be a dim distant memory.

 

Most of these old British names have a better following abroad, Morris could have potential in India as an example.

[UltraWomble]

I keep wondering if BMW will resurrect Triumph or Riley on a small city car car. Everyone else seems to have one in their portfolio somewhere but not BMW unless you include that EV they make.

[Pillock]

Awwww, they could have saved the Mini name for a small car, instead of putting it on something the size of the Isle of Wight.

 

Maybe they'll invent the "Micro".

[Lacquer Peel]

The Rover brand is doing pretty well with Land and Range prefixes.

[Cavcraft]

What they should really do is to copy the MG6, but make it a bit worse and then go on strike because the bog roll is slightly too hard.

[dugong]

Slow news week at Classic Car Weakly.

 

I'm 44 and the Rover brand to me means the badly built SD1 and Hondover products with serious design flaws.

 

It's not much of a story, given that it's an educated guess by an author heavily affiliated with AROnline. 

 

Rover simply has too much negative baggage to mean anything to customers in the price bracket Tata are chasing. The only people Rover has pleasant memories for are the rag-tag bunch of die-hards who'd defend the Viking no matter what, and aged motorists who already own a 75. One must remember that as old car bore, most people on the street don't care or weren't even born when the Rover badge meant something. 

 

In all honesty Tata would be better off marketing cars under its own name and starting afresh with a basic but high-quality model range. Rumour had it six months ago that the new JLR diesel and Freelander platforms would be used on a model of Tata's own, and it wouldn't surprise me if that option is still on the table. 

 

The only marque worth resurrecting would be Triumph, and there's no way BMW's letting that out of the cellar any time soon - certainly not to an arch rival. 

[UltraWomble]

The Rover brand is doing pretty well with Land and Range prefixes.

What they need is a "City" car for yummy mummies and people who want a little commuter - they could call it the City Rover.... Oh, wait...

[Inspector Morose]

As far as I know, and that's not a lot, Tata was going to market the small to medium under its own name. The only thing that Rover has going for it is in the Chinese market where tradition sells well and English tradition sells better (why other than that would the brand of Rowe or whatever it's spelt exist?).

 

The gamble for Tata is wether to use the brand of Rover to capitalise this huge market or to use Tata which is relatively unknown over there but would be possibly more palatable in other countries. Rovers were fairly popular in the Netherlands and in France so it isn't beyond reasonable doubt that Tata could have given it a mull over if they want to produce smaller, cheaper cars to increase their volume of production.

 

Rovers are tainted in Britain, if they are remembered at all but Britain is a tiny market in comparison if they want to be a bit more big time volume manufacturers.

[Craig the Princess]

The new car buying public can be won over with marketing and price.

Look how bad Skoda's reputation was to where they are now. A decent large saloon (a level below the base Jaguar) clever tv adverts, decent price per month, Bob's your auntie's husband.

[warren t claim]

What they need is a "City" car for yummy mummies and people who want a little commuter - they could call it the City Rover.... Oh, wait...

Good thinking! Maybe they should make a freight carrying light commercial as well?

[catsinthewelder]

I'm not sure that a fresh start with the TATA brand would have much of an easier ride than Rover.  There are enough people out there that know Rovers darkest hour was importing the Tata Indicar.

 

I think Rover could make a comeback as a mass market brand but the product would have to be good enough to sell on it's own merit rather than brand loyalty.  A healthy dose of letting the public know how much JLR tech was in it would probably help it as much as the 'knowledge' of how much Mondeo tech was in the X-Type hindered that.

[Junkman]

The only people Rover has pleasant memories for are the rag-tag bunch of die-hards who'd defend the Viking no matter what, and aged motorists who already own a 75.

 

I heard that.

[warren t claim]

Think P6 think Yorkshire Ripper.

[scruff]

Think P6 think George Smiley.

 

(Tuesdays 10pm BBC4, le Carre fans....)

[oman5]

Think P6 think George Smiley.

 

(Tuesdays 10pm BBC4, le Carre fans....)

I'm recording the series. It's worth it for the early 80s street scenes alone.

[Split_Pin]

A Roewe 750 would be quite a sight in the UK.

[anonymous user]

Think P6 think George Smiley. The Gaffer

 

(Tuesdays 10pm BBC4, le Carre fans..Sadly not on repeat..)

[martc]

.....

The only marque worth resurrecting would be Triumph, and there's no way BMW's letting that out of the cellar any time soon - certainly not to an arch rival. 

 

Another reason for them to keep the Triumph name out-of-circulation is the success of the motorbike company of the same name - another arch rival to BMW. There was enough confusion in the past between the two Triumphs; imagine how this plurality would blow the minds of the idiots who occupy the planet nowadays.

 

Good thinking! Maybe they should make a freight carrying light commercial as well?

 

Or perhaps an open top lunar exploring vehicle?

[Partridge]

If you think Rover has a serious chance of returning, quite franky, you're deluded.

 

For starters, why bring them back? Before you even get into issues of image, where would they fit into the market? I don't think there's a market for cars not quite as good as a Jag, but which are a little bit cheaper.

 

Rovers are still seen as shit, and will be for a long time to come.

[retro820rover]

Four decades around cars and ive finally acquired a Rover 820 which on reflection now seems to be a tainted brand name and i said to myself well i need a big car for xmas ferrying duties of relatives then sell on but as ive used it the odd motor of choice as grown on me a bit.

Shake off the < grandad > image which i did by fitting a Hornet straight through exhaust for a start it confuses people who see this Rover with old duffer ( me ) driving but sounding different. Reckon if i can matt black the front grill or find one to paint keeping chrome one for the day its sold it will look less Rover. Have to say its a lot of car for what in essence is pocket money plus the T series engine so far works well breathing through a piper cross sport filter and cold air feed / all un rover like but who said you cant modify an old cuckoo into a racing pidgeon ?

[Ghosty]

Awwww, they could have saved the Mini name for a small car, instead of putting it on something the size of the Isle of Wight.

 

Maybe they'll invent the "Micro".

 

I think Mini is turning back into Austin.

There's a bloody huge five-door Mini now - logical successor to the Allegro (or even a Princess or Maxi)??

[RichardMoss]

We have LANDrover and RANGErover - perhaps there is scope for a properly marketed ROADrover.  Sell it as a sub-brand of LR rather than the old Rover company back for another go.  Perhaps the ROAD part of the name could be dropped once the brand is up and running. 

 

The funny thing is that lots of people outside Britain think that there was a company called Rover which took its name from Landrover - 180 degrees out from the truth.  Very few understand the actual relationship between Rover and its 4x4 children

[Junkman]

...Hornet...

Now there is a brand name to revive.