F&I Management & Training

Eco Concept

Eco Concept is owned by Qu Li, an ex-MG Rover consultant who is now chairman of China Ventures, an automotive consultancy.

She has a strong background in automotive. Her father was chief engineer of Nanjing Automotive, which bought MG

Administration

Rover and moved much of the production to China after the company went into administration. It subsequently merged with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) in 2007.

Formal completion of the transaction should occur within the next four weeks, following which it is Eco Concept's intention to relocate the assets from the current site in Washwood Heath, Birmingham.

Unsuccessful plea

Rob Hunt, Mark Hopkins and Matthew Hammond of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP were appointed joint administrators of LDV Group in June after the collapse of a potential buyout by Weststar, the Malaysian van manufacturer. Van production, however, stopped last Christmas.

LDV's management team made an unsuccessful plea to the government for a £60m refinancing loan arguing the cost of letting the manufacturer fail would outweigh the cost of keeping it going.

The company employed 850 workers at its plant and 1,200 staff at its dealer network. Thousands more workers were also employed by parts suppliers to the vanmaker.

DATED: 19.10.09

FEED: MT