Thirty years ago, the British motor industry was at a crossroads and Rover Group was at its forefront. A tie-in with Honda had completely reinvigorated the company’s cars and the latest range brought with it levels of quality that hadn’t been seen in years.
Up to that point, Rover Group had been a troubled environment, with government stewardship and the subsequent off-loading to British Aerospace Engineering, whose remit throughout was to get it into a position to pass it on to an interested suitor by making the company attractive to investors.
As the core Rover model range settled and became better aligned, with Mini, Rover 100, 200, 400 (imminent 600) and 800. The MG-badged saloons, with their racy red seatbelts, disappeared. They’d done enough to keep the MG brand on life support.
There was a growing
