MG ROVER RDX60 - THE SAVIOUR OF THE BRITISH MOTOR INDUSTRY?!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ต.ค. 2024
- In this video we cover one of the most important cars MG Rover ever engineered the RDX60 which was a true last throw of the dice for the manufacture. Once a glorious depiction of the future now lays in ruin however as it slowly rots away in the shell of the former plant.
This video is on one of the most mysterious cars of Longbridge still currently sat in Longbridge awaiting its fate. The MG Rover RDX60 programme was the last of the line of MG Rover.
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As a couple of other comments have mentioned, that green car is to close to the Vauxhall Signum - I’d say it’s a re-bodied (facelifted) Vauxhall - as you mentioned in the video even the steering wheel was carried over from Vauxhall with a Rover badge stuck on it!
Just seen the news item about the prototypes on the BBC News website posted 4th October 2023. It states that MG UK is talking to the British Motor Museum at Gaydon.
Fingers crossed that the cars do end up with the BMM 🤞 . Would love to see them in the collection at Gaydon soon.
I know that you're working so hard on this Tom......and appreciate your passion. How do we viewers help? You need main media exposure - I don't know anyone (wish I did) I suspect / hope you're ahead on this.
Well the more of us that watch and interact with the video the better, since that’ll help the video grow and reach a wider audience and perhaps reach someone with that ability or an outlet he can utilise.
It might be worth giving Hubnut & Furious Driving a shout to get some momentum and support for your endeavours before it’s to late, respect for your efforts.
The Rover Signum. Very interesting.
@@petercraig9197 I agree!
Hi Tom. Just read a BBC article that was about 'the lost cars of Longbridge'... Well done mate. Let's hope its the start of getting these cars saved... and you get a 'knighthood' for contributing to saving British motoring history'.. 😉🇬🇧👍🏻. Keep going mate. You nearly there. Keep Rovering on Tom. 😊
Thanks Paul, I couldn’t have done any of this without the support of you guys. It was also on BBC WM on TV and radio as well with Gemma
That's brilliant mate. Keep up the good fight.. we're right behind you. 👍🏻👍🏻🇬🇧🇬🇧
You can see the bmw 1 series in that car I think they should have never left Honda my thoughts greetings from Scotland 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Yeah, I think you are correct, such a shame.
I do agree but they never were with Honda. When they were owned by BAE they partnered with Honda but then bought by BMW removing their partnerships.
The Rover variants of the Honda models always had a nicer interior than the Honda versions.
Just seen the article on BBC News website, good work young man 😁👍
I've just heard the BBC piece on Radio WM, and the comment from MG Rover. I won't steal your thunder, but it sounds like progress!
Mate just seen you on Midlands Today 6.30am Bulletin. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Gemma and all the other legends will be on as well later in the day which is absolutely fantastic
Excellent video Tom, the green RDX60 in the documentary and the one parked in the car park is based on a MG ZT kv6 and is actually trophy blue when you pop the bonnet. And that's the one I've been in!
Very interesting, always wondered what happened to the prototype
Great update Tom. Thanks.
Thanks Stuart
Im a British born dual Australian overseas citizen i should think write emails of concern to the transport minister in london and local Birmingham MPs to make them aware of the cars that SAIC MG cleanly dont give much of a toss about but are happy to flog sales of their new MGs to the UK market.
Cost them nothing to donate them to a historical motor museum.
Keep the pressure on mate, I'll keep sharing and tagging them. They need to go a museum or somewhere secure
Thank you, I think we’ve got a breakthrough now. I’ll be posting about it soon
Thank goodness i had a box of tissues handy - what an absolute shame. Concepts et al that have ( and still do...) stood the test of time. I remember the concept MG that was a possible replacement for the MGB, back in the early '80's -cream in colour, if memory serves.
The motoring press at large should show keen interest surely ?
Congratulations on your BBC article 😊
Well done. An example of what happens when you persevere. Saved for posterity. Pity we will never be able to find out the truth of who really killed MG Rover. Was it BMW ? Was it the Government ? Was it the Phoenix group ? Or a mixture of all of these ?
keep banging that drum tom ,im sure you will be heard
We have been, interview is out on BBC West Mids tomorrow radio and TV.
I would love to have bought one of them if this came to production. This needs to be saved
Tom, who did you contact at Longbridge? There is an X reg MGB abandoned outside that I’d love to save.
DJ audits has put out a recent mg rover drone vid,
Keep up the good work son.
Saw that Lee and they’re still sat there. Thanks for your support
Well documented Tom, it must of been illegal what the Phoenix gang did to Rover, and I bet they didn't go down with the company.
It was essentially what’s known as a ‘long firm fraud’ where criminals take a company and run up huge debts, selling everything off, raiding the pension fund etc, and then when there’s nothing left, walking away. This is what the Phoenix Four did, to the tune of £40million. All four were subsequently banned from being company directors, not that they cared, they all ended up very wealthy…
What about the TF coupe ? Thats got to be saved or am i being biased as i own a TF Roadster 😂
The Headlight looked like they were off a Vectra, and the taillights looked like Commodore Wagon.
Vectra front end, pug 407 rear end
No doubt this car would have been MG/Rover’s saviour. Great styling and with the right platform and engines, it would have been a credible rival to established brands. Unfortunately The Phoenix Four wasted precious resources developing a rear wheel drive V8 powered 75/ZT and a sports car costing £65-80k, two models no one asked for.
They were offered the Fiat Stilo platform for RDX60 but turned that down, so really shot themselves in the foot with indecision and heal dragging. A great shame but it’s great to see MG thriving under Chinese ownership these days.
I remember thumbing through car magazines back in the day when these pictures were doing the rounds. They were all over the place with loads of different, confusing designs, none of them particularly pretty and some downright ugly. They'd still have gone down even if these had made it, IMHO.
This just goes to show what clowns were running MG Rover and what clowns are still running the remnants of the company today.
I’ve bombarded their TikTok 😂
We lost the funds for the new venture, because they blew it all on the the Le Man project!! If you're a competitor in this game you've got to be a heavy hitter and Rover wasn't! In short they blew their only chance at success 😢
I remember seeing these cars shown as prototypes at the time, if they’d been given the financial backing I think Rover would still be here and prominent, shame BMW took what they could and then jump off the ship, if had stayed with the Honda partnership it’d have succeeded.
@paaulillingworth1242
BMW gifted the Phoenix Four with 300 unsold cars and approximately £50 million to help them get started.
The money and income from sold vehicles disappeared. It is the dishonesty of the Phoenix group that killed MG Rover.
In August 2003 it was spotted? ;)
Vauxhall signum ??
funnily enough, the rdx60 predates the signum
They shouldve kept the 4 headlight design like on the mk1 75 etc.
Good old BMW, you can always rely on them to help put the final nail in the coffin of it's rival. They did the same in the 1960's with it's German rival, scoping up some new designs from Hansa along with some factories too.
I hate to say it but the car does look like a re badged Signum. Dash is same, light clusters same, over all body shape same. Who knows what went on behind closed doors but its quite possible that a failing Signum within the GM arena seemed like a last gasp to MG/R
⚠️Jeremy Clarkson did massive damage to MGR.
Considering his father was a British Industrialist his attitude was appalling.
It was obvious what BMW had planned for Rover ... But Typical of the British resting on their laurels instead of improving the mini like BMW did say with Land Rover range Rover they just sat back and thought people would buy any old crap ....
Thats the thing its sad, we are capable of making good stuff, and now rover no longer exists we’re getting non descriptive tat from korea
I think decades of under investment and no forward thinking in the MG Rover in the 1990's was the main issue...Maybe a takeover by a foreign company instead of BAe, the latter was not really interested in making cars..
Imagine if Honda had bought it instead of BMW.
@@PJ-om2wq rover s2000 maybe or mg xr thingy
Hay HI @TomDrives
Well today 4th oct 23 i rang MG , and sent a brief email 😊
great video,,not sure how it can be saved though
Museum
Why did they shelve it?
Ive never buy a chinese MG.....
I drove an mg3 there gearbox doesn’t feel like it will last…
Looks like a Vauxhall Signum, that was a flop. Therefore I don't think it would have been a success even if it had gone ahead
Definitely just reworked Vauxhall signum. Look at the interior, side profile, headlights. All very. Vauxhall
Why does it look like a Vauxhall Signum to me
Sign of the times
Or does the vauxhall signum look like the RDX60??
Signum and Vectra predated this by years.
Lazy design on a dead end project. The company was already finished by this point, the dirty deal to rebadge the Tata Indica done.
Hmmm...This is the fugly car that the Longbridge Production Director Kevin Howe overruled Peter Stevens on final design....🙄🙄🙄
The bmw if Models were also in my view a copy of this Rover Model
Yes, I agree that the RDX60 was a vital car for MG Rover’s future, but, oh my, what happened with the styling? I’m sorry to say, but it’s a mess. As others have said, the front end looks too much like a Vauxhall Vectra, the rear end is way too busy, and the interior not much better than the Proton Gen 2 that MGR considered buying in. For what it’s worth, I think that Alfa Romeo showed how to take a stylish large car platform, cut it down and to make a desirable and handsome hatchback derivative with the 156/147. The 147 carried over a lot of what made the 156 desirable, with looks and interior inspired by the bigger car. I can’t understand why MGR couldn’t have come up with essentially a 3/5 door hatchback version of the 75. It would have been quintessentially Rover, could have been sold as a premium hatchback, and would have offered a hatchback with comparable qualities to the 75. The interior in particular, could have been a proper ‘baby 75’ in look and feel…….ahh, hindsight!
The RDX60 looks like a mini TCV, which is a good thing, it looks like even the Saloon was a 5 door. It looks like Rover and MG were going to ditch the retro 75 look.
The powers that be believed the retro look held the 75 back and wanted bold and modern.
@@peterbrownless TCV wasn’t that far away from what Jaguar did with the XF.
Be nice if Gaydon took it . Thats if they even know about it
They do
@@tomdrivesThat makes it even sadder ☹️
Vauxhall signum defo
😢
These where the bmw 1 series and the bmw x5
Saviour?
This phone and its operator clearly can’t spell either!
Edited now, good spot thank you
@@tomdrives class video mate. You’re doing a great job! 👍
I think the 75 is the best rover
Bmw saw the R30 project as a perfect small hatch in there range and took it. I've seen no end of picture of the R30 and it's basically the BMW 1 series. When project drive was introduced it ruined the Z range missing sound proofing etc etc made them awful I've own a pre project drive MGZR and latter one and the latter one was a awful car. But the rdx60 could of been the saviour of mg/rover
Rover was doomed Long before BMW. Without Honda they would have vanished many years ago.
Clarkson drove it in the back seat if i remember too late they was DONE! no establishment no dignity no heritage
Incorrect he never saw it
@@tomdrives drove the signum 100% sure. roughly the same time he drove the ZT 260 and MG SV. Failed our industry would rather drive a mercedes or ferrari
@@anthonyhenry5424 this isn’t a Signum
Sorry to you, back door deals mate had all same GM switch gear. Same as the fiat punto headlights on the MG SV. Brown envelopes everywhere 2002/2006
Thats not a great looking car...not sure that would have saved them.
It looks great but of course it’s subjective, the car would’ve only worked with investment, if they had investment that would’ve kept them going along with the car.
I think it looked great for it's period, remember it's nearly 20 years since they closed. If they had survived, they would be building more modern vehicles by now.
For it's time I looks really up to date. IMHO
Thing is it would be great to save it whatever it looks like! It's the end of the line model. Why not save it? It's pretty much worthless to the current owners.
I agree. Rover did not have enough variety in their portfolio of passenger cars though. Look at the selection Audi had at the time,for example. When you are hanging all your hopes on basically one model, it's almost guaranteed to fail. This took 30 years to happen but happen it did.
How many other manufacturers have made prototypes not followed through to main stream production ?, c'mon be realistic if put into production it wouldnt have sold well it still looks dated even for back then, the build quality would have been rubbish , a mis match of any old interior trim from the parts bin, mg rover was on its arse churning out the same old crap in the hope motorists would carry on buying due to loyalty or nostalgia.
I've owned a few MG's and they were all rubbish
To be honest,i dont think any of them cars are worthy of the rover style wise.they looked awful.the rover 75s looked so much better.shame to see them being neglected tho.
The 75 is better but they needed to go more mainstream to survive
Dreadful jumper