The last Rover
Slipping over uncluttered Spanish roads near Seville in a brand-new Rover 75 saloon 21 years ago, there was a real sense that the Brits were getting back into their stride. What we did not know at the time was that this would be the last real Rover, the last British mass-market saloon car, and that the once-proud marque was destined to disappear within a few troublesome years.
New Zealand was to be one of the first export markets to receive the model in July 1999, little more than four months after I had flown from down under to Europe for the international launch. This was Rover’s hope for a brighter future, even though, wincingly, the on-sale date in Britain was delayed briefly to sort quality issues.
But there was a problem right from the start when the October 1998 media launch, at the British International Motor Show in Birmingham, ended on a sour note — although no blame could be aimed at the car. Munich-born Bernd Pischetsrieder, chairman of the BMW board from 1993 until 1999, had been heavily involved in Rover’s fortunes since the Germans took command of the brand
