RAGT just can't catch a break..

Secondary sponsor MG Rover has officially gone under. It was very wise
for their only talented rider, Tour de l'Avenir winner Sylvain Calzati,
to jump to AG2R in the off-season...

--

MG Rover to Fire Workers as Takeover Talks Collapse (Update6)
April 15 (Bloomberg) -- MG Rover Group Ltd., the British maker of MG
sports cars, plans to fire about 5,000 workers after Shanghai Automotive
Industry Corp. scrapped takeover talks and left the insolvent company
near collapse.

Closely held MG Rover, which employs 6,100 workers at its Longbridge
factory, is losing 25 million pounds ($47 million) a month. It ran out
of options for further funding, said the company's administrator,
PricewaterhouseCoopers, in a statement.

The end of MG Rover, which dates back 100 years, may affect a further
25,000 manufacturing jobs at parts suppliers and be a setback for Prime
Minister Tony Blair, who's seeking re-election May 5. Blair's government
loaned MG Rover 6.5 million pounds to pay workers' wages this week after
the company halted production.

``This is devastating news for the workers, their families and the wider
community,'' said Patricia Hewitt, secretary of state for trade and
industry, in an e-mailed statement.

The government will offer a package of aid for workers, she said. The
aid may be worth 150 million pounds, Sky News reported, citing
unidentified sources.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown will delay a U.S. trip to visit
Rover workers in Birmingham, England today. Blair will be campaigning
today in the West Midlands region, where the Longbridge factory is located.

At its peak in the 1960s, the carmaker employed 250,000 and Longbridge
was one of the biggest car factories in the world. The company produced
40 percent of the cars bought in the U.K., including Triumph, Austin,
Land Rover and Morris brands. MG Rover has less than 3 percent of the
U.K. market today.

Expect BMW or someone to pick up the name badge and make a bunch of
little
run-abouts, a la Cooper.


sonarrat wrote:
Secondary sponsor MG Rover has officially gone under. It was very
wise
for their only talented rider, Tour de l'Avenir winner Sylvain
Calzati,
to jump to AG2R in the off-season...

--

MG Rover to Fire Workers as Takeover Talks Collapse (Update6)
April 15 (Bloomberg) -- MG Rover Group Ltd., the British maker of MG
sports cars, plans to fire about 5,000 workers after Shanghai
Automotive
Industry Corp. scrapped takeover talks and left the insolvent company

near collapse.

Closely held MG Rover, which employs 6,100 workers at its Longbridge
factory, is losing 25 million pounds ($47 million) a month. It ran
out
of options for further funding, said the company's administrator,
PricewaterhouseCoopers, in a statement.

The end of MG Rover, which dates back 100 years, may affect a further

25,000 manufacturing jobs at parts suppliers and be a setback for
Prime
Minister Tony Blair, who's seeking re-election May 5. Blair's
government
loaned MG Rover 6.5 million pounds to pay workers' wages this week
after
the company halted production.

``This is devastating news for the workers, their families and the
wider
community,'' said Patricia Hewitt, secretary of state for trade and
industry, in an e-mailed statement.

The government will offer a package of aid for workers, she said. The

aid may be worth 150 million pounds, Sky News reported, citing
unidentified sources.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown will delay a U.S. trip to
visit
Rover workers in Birmingham, England today. Blair will be campaigning

today in the West Midlands region, where the Longbridge factory is
located.

At its peak in the 1960s, the carmaker employed 250,000 and
Longbridge
was one of the biggest car factories in the world. The company
produced
40 percent of the cars bought in the U.K., including Triumph, Austin,

Land Rover and Morris brands. MG Rover has less than 3 percent of the

U.K. market today.

wrote:
Expect BMW or someone to pick up the name badge and make a bunch of
little
run-abouts, a la Cooper.

BMW already "picked up" MG Rover, then abandoned them in 2001 while
sniping the rights to the Mini name. The Land Rover division was turned
over to Ford. The operation was so sour by that time that they only
managed to convince a company called Phoenix to take MG Rover by
offering a 427,000,000 pound, interest free loan, and Phoenix responded
by ponying up a selling price of 10 pounds (not a typo) for MG Rover...

-Sonarrat.