[Spannermonkey]

It occurs to me, that although the Rover cars got a bit of a slating at the time, the ideas were good. "converting" the 25 to a "streetwise" was a bit of a last resort idea, but it did sell a few cars quickly, some people say the ZR/ZSZT was a "lets put a few badges on it, call it an MG, and we'll sell a few more" idea, but it is generally a good car in its own right, not just a 45 with a bit more "oomph" and a MG badge. The chinese have always been a resourceful race, and they didnt buy the company just cos it was cheap, and would give them a car quickly (the 75). My take on this is the same as the japanese did with the english motorcycle industry- find something reasonable, improve it, make it more reliable and attractive, and sell shed loads. suzuki did it, honda did it, and now the chinese will do it. They have more people to manufacture it, and they can do it with cheap labour rates with no union problems, look at the rake of chinese scooters in the uk, cheap, good value per £, but at the moment slightly dubious build quality, but they WILL get it right very soon.
I think we will see new "rover" cars on the market in a year or so that are good, and competative in price......Watch this space.