Land Rover and Jaguar sold to Tata Motors

Post by **redline** » 27 Mar 2008 03:18 pm

trabitom99 wrote:.

A while back, a rumour went around Ford were going to sell Volvo to Kia. I would've publicly burned all my blue boxes in protest

Tom

why Tom ,

Kia are owned by Hyundai now who make remarkably good cars

sorry , posted this before reading Steves response

and the reason Kia are so good now is because Hyundai own them

Julies boss said yesterday
tata are welcome to Jaguar ,the X type is just a tonced up Mondeo anyway ( and thats from someone who owned one )

Post by **trabitom99** » 27 Mar 2008 03:35 pm

redline wrote:why Tom ,

Kia are owned by Hyundai now who make remarkably good cars

Certainly, if all you want to do is get from A to B. Which, undoubtably is one of the most important characteristics of a car.

BUT:
where's the passion, where's the flair, where's the feeling someone made and designed the car with petrol in his blood? Wheres the predecessor with big chrome bumpers in a US 60's Hollywood blockbuster (or a UK 70's police show for that matter), the sporting successes, the famous patriarchal founder?

All unimportant if all you want is reliable motoring, of course

And on Monday, stuck in the Hunsrück in the middle of a snowstorm with a damp dizzy cap, our newborn screaming her head off, I would have given my right arm for a reliable, 3-year old Korean family hatchback ...

Tom

Post by **redline** » 27 Mar 2008 04:41 pm

trabitom99 wrote: Certainly, if all you want to do is get from A to B. Which, undoubtably is one of the most important characteristics of a car.

BUT:
where's the passion, where's the flair, where's the feeling someone made and designed the car with petrol in his blood?

Tom

I get quite passionate about my 2.7 V6 quadcam engine (and the 3.0 V^ quadcam in the Camry )

but I do know what you mean , its the ancestory that is lost

like when BMW brought out the mini one , a very competent little car but deffinately not a replacement for the real mini

Post by **filthyjohn** » 27 Mar 2008 05:49 pm

redline wrote: like when BMW brought out the mini one , a very competent little car but deffinately not a replacement for the real mini

A cynical marketing exercise that paid off big time. They must laugh, selling Brits a parody of a genuine icon. Same goes for the beetle, fiat 500, mx5(elan).

Car companies with passion and flair are usually ones founded by one man, Enzo Ferrari, Colin Chapman, Shoichiro Honda. The ones who produce the most boring, soulless models are the companies which were just businesses, started by groups of venture capitalists.

Post by **filthyjohn** » 27 Mar 2008 05:52 pm

Chris_C wrote:/nissan (note I believe?)

And Qashqai, micra, micra C+C. Until recently, Primera and Almera too.

Post by **filthyjohn** » 27 Mar 2008 05:56 pm

MJ wrote:It's true, we're becoming a service nation, with some small specialised manufacturing. Obviously this globalisation means we're focusing on our strengths to focus on the most profitable areas, and it's just sentimentality affecting our views on the loss of the old industry's...

When there are no manufacturing jobs left, what will the people like me do? Too lazy to finish my degree, too unaesthetic to work in a shop

Seriously, this nation has been propped up by the grafters for ages, and I know loads of people who can't do anything else.

Sorry for the multi-posts, been offline for a couple days.