: : October 2006 So the latest twist in the Mg / Rover saga has just unfurled. Amid all the speculation about what the Nanjing Automobile Corporation may or may not do with MG, see September issue of “Enjoying MG”, comes the news that Ford has exercised its option to buy the Rover brand name. What? I hear you cry?... hmm! Exactly the same thought I was having as I read it. Nanjing bought the assets of the former MG / Rover, including the rights to manufacture MG sports cars, last year. Shanghai Automotive opted not to buy MG / Rover outright last year from BMW, but did purchase the design rights to the Rover 25 and 75 models. Confused? Well I certainly am, but what all this meant was that BMW were still the owners of the Rover brand name, they did not sell it to the Phoenix consortium in the 2000 deal, and they courted both the above companies about buying that name. So where do Ford fit into all of this? Well, when they bought Land Rover from BMW in 2000 the deal included a first option to buy the Rover brand name, they have now exercised that option. The big question is why? Could it just be something to do with the selling of Jaguar? I could see this sale going through without the rights to the Jaguar S type, you know the upmarket Mondeo, what chances of it receiving a make over and reappearing as a Rover? Now there’s a thought. Do you just think your particular MG is the best car of the decade? If you do you have the chance to make your point, the organizers of the Classic Motor Show 2006 want your suggestions. The show will run from October 27th to the 29th want suggestions for the most iconic car design in the categories, pre 1950s, the 50s, the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, the 90s and finally the present day. So we have perhaps the, TC Midget, ZA Magnette, MGB, MGB GT V8, MG F and finally the ZT T V8. Well these were my nominations, to have your say log onto www.classiccarshow.co.uk and click on the Designs of the Decade feature, you could even win tickets to the show. I told you recently about the rise in the charge for the MOT test this month. It would appear the article I gleaned the information from was not correct with the quoted price. The price is due to go up by 14% from £44.15 to £50.35. We have another slant on the reason for the rise from Jim Punter, Chairman of the MOT trade forum. “The computerized system adds up to eight minutes to a test, forcing many of my members to employ extra staff”. Perhaps we’ll all get coffee with an MOT test now! < Return to previous page