Phoenix insiders say that, at times, the Labour government seemed to be actively working against this local proposal. The allegations of political meddling and the complete inability to think laterally are not just being levelled at the Department of Trade and Industry and the beleaguered Stephen Byers. As for Britain's high street banks, they might want to be big, but they clearly don't want to have hefty exposure to the country's industrial heartlands. The challenge for Towers now is to leverage the goodwill of the Longbridge workforce and cut losses. He needs to stabilise market share, build credibility and then get on and forge an alliance with one of the industry majors.
Phoenix needs a partner that can help build the next generation of cars.
In this, the new company stands a better chance than BMW, since the suspicion is that anyone the German car firm spoke to on the subject in the past always wanted a piece of BMW in return. He liked Rover so much he bought it.