CITY AND SUBURBAN
How much is that doggie in the window?
£1.7 billion to you, squire
CHRISTOPHER FILDES
Now we know who would want a dog called Rover. Imagine paying, though! In all poor old Rover's long years in the dog- house, 'free to a good home' would have been nearer the mark. Lord Young tried the effect of throwing in a case of Ken- nomeat — for this has been a notoriously expensive dog to keep. Then one winter day, along comes a sentimental Bavarian called Pichetsreider who falls for Rover's hopeful expression and gently wagging tail. How much, he asks, is that doggie in the window? Holding their breath, the owners suggest i1.7 billion. Mr Pichetsreider writes a cheque on BMW's account and they grab it before he has a chance to change his mind. Put like that, you cannot blame them. British Aerospace picked up Rover — along with a property company, a tank maker, Dutch engineers and other irrele- vances — in a fit of collector's mania that nearly ruined it. The climax came with a hurried raising of new capital and a purge in the boardroom. The new team thinks that running an aerospace business gives it plenty to do and, asked whether it would rather have Rover or the money, must have deliberated for all of nine seconds. That did not leave it time to thank the friend who taught the old dog new tricks and so made it worth buying. This was Honda. Gillian Taylforth may have opened Mr Pichetsreider's eyes to what a Range Rover can accommodate on its roomy front seat, but Rover on the badge and Honda under the bonnet has been the formula for credi- ble car-making. For Honda, it was the for- mula for getting inside the protected mar- kets of Europe by looking British. This
assumed that if Rover were to be put up for sale, it would be offered in the first place to British buyers. Honda never got the chance, and is understandably furious. The Price of that anger may still have to be paid. Japanese investment may yet succeed in making this country a net exporter of cars — but it will be far more difficult now to persuade the next Japanese company that Britain is a friendly aircraft carrier or safe base.
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