NO ROVERS RETURN AT LONGBRIDGE

31-01-2007

The good news that cars are rolling off the track at Longbridge again begs more questions than answers - questions which Rover's new owners Nanjing Automobile are currently unable or unwilling to answer.

In case you missed the story, MG TF roadster sports cars have started emerging from the production line at the old Rover factory which closed in April 2005. They are test versions of a re-modelled TF roadster due to go on sale later this year. (see www.icbirmingham.co.uk)

What the company isn't saying is whether Longbridge will be the centre of their European production as was originally suggested - or just a small operation serving the UK.

Their official press release simply says that all right hand drive versions of the car will be assembled in Birmingham.

That seems to suggest that left hand drive cars - including those for sale in the EU - will be made in China. If that's true, it will significantlyhamper the potential growth of Longbridge.

When questioned, a company spokesman wouldn't or couldn't be drawn on where European versions of the TF will be made - nor on whether right hand models for the Japanese market will be made in Brum.

Northfield MP Richard Burden commented: “I find that odd. There had been references to Longbridge as a base for their European operation. I can't imagine they'll make cars in the Far East for Europe, or in Europe for the Far East, but we'll just have to wait and see.”

Burden welcomes the fact that production has re-started, but cautions that the resurrection of the motor industry on the site is never likely to create the number of jobs lost when MG Rover closed.

“This is not the Rover's return” he said. “The regeneration of south-west Birmingham needs a much broader, more diverse base.

“Together with the developer St Modwen and Birmingham City Council we are working with Nanjing encouraging them to look at what Britain is good at, and that's performance engineering and the development of environmental technology. There's a big crossover in the motor industry, and the chance for Nanjing to use that to get ahead.

“Whatever we do, sustainability and environmental technology has got to be at the core of it. When Herbert Austin set up his factory in the first place, he was looking at the growth industry of the 20th century. We've got to do the same for the 21st century.”