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Old 24-03-08, 09:25 AM   #7
KevG
2007 Focus ST2
 
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That’s all very well Ross saying that these manufacturers are British, but we are talking volume production.

The motor industry in the UK has long since disappeared, as Mick said Vauxhall although very British in its roots got bought buy GM, and merged with OPEL, now they are an Amerieuro company, just Vauxhall has it UK HQ here but much controlled by the Americans, the same goes for Ford of Europe, very much controlled via Germany, Britain just makes some Transits, Engines, radiators etc.
As for MGRover Group, well since the "Rover" brand got bought by Ford to protect the "Land Rover" brand, that just leaves MG, since that was merged in to NAC then into SAIC, the chinese have been promoting the fact that the MG or as they say it "Modern Gentleman" are very much British rooted this appeals to a lot of young Chinese, since they want to be Western, so I won’t dismiss the fact the "MG" brand is not British, although Made in China and assembled in the United Kingdom.

Most modern car parts aren't made in the UK, and even when MGRover was in production some parts were in fact made in the France, Germany, Italy etc, Stadco made the body panels in the UK, but they make 95% of the Ford Focus which gets built in Germany for example.

As for Les Millars post, we do have a thriving motor industry, although we don’t have one of our own, Britain makes Honda, Nissan, Toyota, BMW Mini etc using a British work force using British tooling and British suppliers, who get parts from the Far East.

So, to summarise we do have a lot of British cars on our roads, but people perceive then as the make that they are.
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