Rover to shut for 23 days at Christmas

ROVER is closing for more than three weeks over Christmas and New Year following a slump in sales. The car firm's Longbridge factory in Birmingham will shut for an extra eight days in a bid to cut stocks of unsold vehicles.

Rover confirmed that it would halt production from the last shift on 10 December until 3 January - a total of 23 days.

A spokesman said: 'We will keep stocks in line with customer demand. Workers have been informed.'

Sales of Rover-badged cars slumped by more than 35% in September, and the firm is £77m in the red. Its future could hinge on a proposed partnership deal with Chinese car giant Shanghai Automotive.

MG-Rover chiefs today await a High Court ruling on whether they can make compulsory redundancies among the 6,100 workforce.

A deal between Rover's former owner BMW - which sold the firm to the 'Phoenix Four' consortium four years ago for £10 - and the unions means only voluntary cutbacks are allowed.

Rover chiefs were branded 'the unacceptable face of capitalism' last week by German-owned BMW's managing director in Britain, Jim O'Donnell.

He said it was 'a disgrace' that directors were making millions of pounds for themselves while Rover was doing so badly.