Rover CityRover

The Rover CityRover is a hatchback car model offered by MG Rover Group in the UK market. Launched in the Autumn of 2003, the car was a rebadged version of the Indian Tata Indica.^[2] With a length of 3.703 metres (145.8 in), it was considered either a large city car or a small supermini. Its interior space and performance were considered good for a small car in contemporary road tests, but its lack of quality, road handling and high price were not well received.^[3]

Technical details

The CityRover was offered with only one engine: an ex-Peugeot 1.4 L 4-cylinder with a capacity of 1405 cc producing 84 bhp (63 kW; 85 PS) and 88 lb·ft (119 N·m).^[4] It could accelerate to 60mph in 11.9 seconds and had a top speed of 100 mph (160.9 km/h).^[5]

The CityRover was manufactured by Tata Motors at their Pune factory in India^[6] Alterations for the British market inlcuded new bumpers, Rover badge grille, 14" wheels and new suspension settings.^[7]

Criticism

MG Rover was reported to be paying Tata £3,000 for each car and, despite each model featuring a Rover corporate nose and revised suspension settings, the buying public was not impressed by the £6,495 starting price.^[8]

In the summer of 2004, just one year after the CityRover's launch, MG Rover announced plans to replace it with an all-new model within two years. Rumours of a sporty MG variant also appeared in the motoring press.

Sales were well short of MG Rover's targets, so the CityRover was given an upgrade for the 2005 model year, with more standard equipment. Prices were slashed by £900, confirming that the car's previous prices had not been competitive.^[9]

The CityRover made the media again when Rover refused to lend one to Top Gear to test. In order to answer the question of "just how bad could it be?" James May went undercover and test drove one at a dealer while carrying a hidden camera. He subsequently declared it to be the worst car he had ever driven on the show.^[8]

Along with the rest of the MG Rover range, production of the CityRover ended in April 2005 when the company went into receivership, the last vehicles brought into the UK being purchased and sold on by a non-franchised discount dealer group.

Although MG Rover was bought by Nanjing Automobile of China in July 2005, the company's new owners did not include the CityRover or indeed any direct successor in their plans for a new model range.

Achievements

Despite the media criticism of the CityRover, one (the upgraded 2005 version) was chosen in 2006 to be used as the reconnaissance vehicle for the 2007 Himalayan Challenge Endurance Rally. With only minor modifications, the car was driven over the 7,000-mile (11,000 km) planned route from London to Delhi by University of Southampton students Chris Cardwell and Nick Clarke without any major problems, including crossing significant distances of desert and a number of mountain ranges. The reasons given by the event organisers for the choice of vehicle were that it is "the cheapest brand new car you can drive in Britain", and to prove that the route could be driven in an ordinary small car, without the need for a large four wheel drive vehicle. Following completion of the race, the car was shipped back to the UK and sold to a prospective competitor, with the intention of using it on the event in September 2007.^[10]

References