BMW has agreed to sell the rights to the Rover nameplate to Chinese automaker Shanghai Automotive, according to the U.K.’s Birmingham Post. The company will pay around over $20 million for the name, the report said. Last year, another Chinese automaker — Nanjing Automobile — bought the MG component of the MG Rover organization for $92 million. The Post reported that a new model had been designed, and would be unveiled in the near future.
New car price quote
Zero obligation price quote from a trusted local dealer.
08/14, 6:24 PM
posted by:
Anonymous
This **** is very confusing….isnt Land Rover the name of the company? And didnt Ford own it. Bimmer sold Land Rover to Ford but not the rights to the name…and 20million seems pretty cheap..lol i dunno.
08/14, 6:25 PM
posted by:
mbftw
No, two different companies. Otherwise it would be “Chinese automaker buys LAND Rover name”.
The yellow tide is comming.
08/14, 6:30 PM
posted by:
Renton
I thought Rovers were bad when thery were built in England. Count me out.
08/14, 6:33 PM
posted by:
justin
–This is off topic but oh well–
i hate china… china IS going to lead to the downfall of America!! …its already happening.
08/14, 6:36 PM
posted by:
JC Whitless
Imagine the money the US automakers could make if they sold their “orphan” brand names to China.
Desoto, Plymouth, Rambler, Geo, Chalmers, Maxwell, Auburn, Crosley, Checker, Desoto…
DCX would make an f’n killing.
Also, I bet the chinese would figure out retro would sell.
Yeah, I want a Studebaker Golden Hawk made in the Shunde District of Foshan City
08/14, 6:39 PM
posted by:
monts
Plymouth is dead?!?!?!
08/14, 6:41 PM
posted by:
JC Whitless
Ply has been dead since 2001…
Although it would be the ideal brand name to give to “Smart” in the US….
08/14, 6:47 PM
posted by:
Betty Swollocks
Yeah and we all know how much brand equity is left in the Rover name
08/14, 6:51 PM
posted by:
otis wildflower
What else will China spend their dollars on, but struggling American companies that will give them access to the American market for higher-value goods and services?
My prediction is that China, if they haven’t bought either Ford or GM outright, will buy nameplates and “partner” with them. I can imagine Pontiac, Mercury, Saab, Oldsmobile becoming badges for some Chinese imports.
08/14, 7:04 PM
posted by:
JC Whitless
Now that would be a fun photoshop contest…
Go to a chinese mfg website, steal a picture of one of the wacky rolling ‘junks’, and brand engineer an Oldsmobile or a Mercury
08/14, 8:29 PM
posted by:
Wickedated
Don’t worry about the chinese. Remember, they’re commies.
08/15, 7:33 AM
posted by:
JohnnyBlazE
Rover we miss thee… bring back this car:
http://www.classicperformanceford.com/Rover_SD1_C999JHD/page01.htm
08/15, 2:34 PM
posted by:
Cole
I only realized just now that Rover’s logo is the front view of a big sailboat thing.
08/15, 2:57 PM
posted by:
Cole is a retard
Its a Viking longship you retard
08/15, 5:14 PM
posted by:
Mr Green
lol
08/15, 10:02 PM
posted by:
Anonymous
Can you imagine some 4-foot tall Chinese weakling rowing a Viking longship!?!?!?! LMFAO!
08/16, 10:21 PM
posted by:
Waof
I can only imagine some 6-foot tall, brainless red neck making some idoitic comment.
08/16, 11:15 PM
posted by:
Dan
^but he’d look less stupid dressed up like a viking.
I don’t know what to think if SAIC puts an MG factory in Ohio like I read in autoweek a while back..