Honda has seized equipment and blueprints vital to building the Rover 45 and MG ZS models, which will make it almost impossible for any buyer of the failed British carmaker to restart production of those cars.
Honda has removed equipment from Rover^s Longbridge factory and destroyed design drawings after administrators agreed it owned many design rights to the cars, which are based on a previous-generation Honda Civic — a legacy of Honda^s one-time partnership with Rover.
Honda Europe said it was unlikely rights for these cars would be licensed to any new owner of Rover. Three bidders are still in the hunt, though it is believed only one, Nanjing Automotive, wanted to restart production of the Rover 45.
Neither of the other two bidders — Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC), and the British-backed Project Kimber, have included the old 45 or ZS models in their plans. No other models contain any Honda-patented parts or designs. SAIC wants to build the 25 and 75 models, as well as MG sports cars; Project Kimber has revised its ambitions purely to build the MG TF and "the means to contract-build niche vehicles for third-party car manufacturers."
Receiver PriceWaterhouseCoopers is believed to be close to a decision on the winning bidder; an announcement could be made as early as today.
