Rover: The Long Goodbye
- Episode aired Mar 20, 2007
- 40m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
7
YOUR RATING
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Featured review
Good overview of the notable Car brand
When the motor car came in to existence Rover was the genesis of the car industry in Britain .. so why did a notable car become extinct.
It starts with its birth in 1904 and explains how it became a great and distinct car and engineering brand notable for innovation and quality which allowed it to grow.
That is until it was coerced to being merged with BMC (Austin, Jaguar) and Triumph to form that now historical lame duck British Leyland in 1968 where for the next 20 years it was corrupted with the rot of BMC and so began its decline as other foreign car brands grew in stature. Despite the unions and management one factor that it did not mention was the decline of apprenticeships and how Comprehensive education also contributed with engineering skills declining, no wonder the British education system has become dilapidated.
At the dawn of the 1990s it was hastily sold off as a subsidiary to foreign brands but as a result had become an anachronistic and laughable imitation or copy of those brands from Honda to BMW becoming irrelevant until its inevitable extinction in the early 2000s.
The wisest strategy to have done was to sell what was left of BL and the rest of the British car industry to mid range foreign conglomerates for domestic production especially since Brexit where the average person could afford and outright but a car and keep the Industrial heartland flourishing.
The only major criticism I have on this episode is it is unfair to the Rover SD1 a great car in its own right. It was once our family car and lasted for 6 years. They were produced for 10 years and were popularly used by the Police so they were not that bad. The SD1 series 2 remains my favourite car ever to this day.
The end line of this episode is the people mourning the loss of Rover. It makes you wonder what if BL was not formed could it have survived to this day in its own right as a universal brand - probably as I read in an article that it had high quality, innovation, simple engineering and modern styling - very poignant and dearly missed.
It starts with its birth in 1904 and explains how it became a great and distinct car and engineering brand notable for innovation and quality which allowed it to grow.
That is until it was coerced to being merged with BMC (Austin, Jaguar) and Triumph to form that now historical lame duck British Leyland in 1968 where for the next 20 years it was corrupted with the rot of BMC and so began its decline as other foreign car brands grew in stature. Despite the unions and management one factor that it did not mention was the decline of apprenticeships and how Comprehensive education also contributed with engineering skills declining, no wonder the British education system has become dilapidated.
At the dawn of the 1990s it was hastily sold off as a subsidiary to foreign brands but as a result had become an anachronistic and laughable imitation or copy of those brands from Honda to BMW becoming irrelevant until its inevitable extinction in the early 2000s.
The wisest strategy to have done was to sell what was left of BL and the rest of the British car industry to mid range foreign conglomerates for domestic production especially since Brexit where the average person could afford and outright but a car and keep the Industrial heartland flourishing.
The only major criticism I have on this episode is it is unfair to the Rover SD1 a great car in its own right. It was once our family car and lasted for 6 years. They were produced for 10 years and were popularly used by the Police so they were not that bad. The SD1 series 2 remains my favourite car ever to this day.
The end line of this episode is the people mourning the loss of Rover. It makes you wonder what if BL was not formed could it have survived to this day in its own right as a universal brand - probably as I read in an article that it had high quality, innovation, simple engineering and modern styling - very poignant and dearly missed.
helpful•00
- m-ozfirat
- Jun 7, 2022
Details
- Runtime40 minutes
- Color
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