Yesterday at Gaydon, I got a chance to speak to the Managing Director of
BMIHT, Fred Coulthas,(sp?) and I asked him who now had control of the Triumph
name.
He advised me that it was BMIHT, who also have control of all the other old
names, apart from Rover, MG and Mini. They, (BMIHT) pay at least 60,000 GBP a
year to retain copyright control of then names as they are a Heritage issue.
Furthermore, and with due respect he told me that in order of perceived
merit, Triumph is regarded by the BMIHT board as number three in terms of
importance. He did apologise for that.
I briefly explained, in the short time avaliable, the error of that line of
thinking!
He understood my feelings. I will say no more, but he did seem like a nice
guy otherwise!!! (we must keep up the pressure).
ps.to those of you with minis, BMIHT is getting ALL the old Mini tooling as
it ceases production in October 2000.
And now more on the Rover issue.
German car giant BMW is "rushing ahead" with plans to break up Rover by the
first week in May despite huge public support for a halt to the sale, a union
leader has said.
Tony Woodley, chief negotiator for the Transport & General Workers Union,
said he believed there would be a pause in production at the Longbridge plant
in Birmingham and at Cowley near Oxford over Easter.
The factories will then reopen in early May under the new management of
venture capitalists Alchemy Partners, unless the sale is halted.
"BMW is rushing headlong to complete the deal and break up the company within
a matter of weeks which is totally unacceptable".
Mr Woodley repeated his call for more information from BMW about the Alchemy
deal in the hope that another bidder will come forward.
"We want fair and equal access to information which would allow other options
to be explored".
Mr Woodley claimed the BMW bosses had been "shocked" at the huge show of
support from the public when up to 80,000 people, including union
representatives, church leaders and politicians, marched through the streets
of Birmingham on Saturday in protest against job losses.
Meanwhile, a survey showing the Rover crisis caused an "alarming slump" in
confidence and sales among manufacturers was released today as Trade
Secretary Stephen Byers prepared to address a select committee on the affair.
The Birmingham Chamber of Commerce said the impact of the shock sale of the
car giant by German firm BMW was starting to "hit home".
Its survey showed that sales have fallen this year among manufacturers in the
West Midlands, where Rover's Longbridge plant is based.
Business confidence has declined with few firms expecting profits to improve.
The chamber's president, John Hudson, said: "These figures reflect the
concerns that business has even at this early and uncertain stage of the
Rover crisis.
"Everything must be done to arrest the downward slide in orders and
confidence that is hitting the manufacturing heartland of the country."
Mr Byers will appear on Wednesday before a Commons select committee set up to
examine the Rover crisis.
Japanese car firm Honda said this weekend it was to halve production at its
huge UK plant in Swindon, Wiltshire, as a "short-term measure", but that none
of the 3,100 workers there would lose their jobs.
Union leaders urged the Bank of England monetary policy committee not to
raise interest rates when it meets this week.
Sir Ken Jackson, general secretary of the Amalgamated Engineering and
Electrical Union, said the bank's decision on Thursday would be crucial for
manufacturing firms across the country.
About 100 Rover engineers seconded to Germany for up to two years are being
sent home from this week as a result of the break-up of the group.
They will return to the Rover design centre at Gaydon, Warwicks, but some
have sold their homes and will be returning to face an uncertain future.
The Prime Minister hinted in a newspaper interview at the weekend there was
no prospect of Government intervention over the Rover crisis.
End.
Léon
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