[Leica] Off Topic British Cars

[dmorton@journalist.co.uk (David Morton)]

Harrison McClary writes:

> And, I heard this morning, RR is porobably going to be bought by BMW.
> It goes before the board/shareholders sometime soon.

In reality it's been a done deal for some time. VW offered more money, but
the new RR and Bentley models use BMW engines, and BMW has made it *very*
clear that if RR is sold to BMW they'll pull out of the engine deal
(meaning a *huge* redesign).

There's a group of RR & Bentley fanatics who're running a "keep RR
British" campaign, and they've been trying to raise the money to buy it.
In truth it would be the death of the marque of they succeeded, since what
RR needs is an owner with real financial muscle to provide long term
investment, and the R&D facilities of a *large* automotive concern.

Vickers (the current owners) are not in a position to give RR the support
it needs, and it's not even close to their core business.

I think that now makes either TVR or Morgan the largest UK car
manufacturer...which is a depressing thought.

D
(still saving up for a Bentley S3)