Fail of the century #13: Rover Cityrover

The CityRover has long been blamed for sinking the Rover car company. Which is rather like blaming the sinking of the Titanic on that iceberg. On the one hand, yeah, tough to argue with that big iceberg-shaped hole in the hull there, lads. But on the other hand, it’s a bit more complicated than that, right? For starters, what exactly were you doing steaming through the middle of all those icebergs in the first place?

So yes, the utter shoddiness of the CityRover was no question the splintering hole in Rover’s bow – the company folded in 2005, just two years after the introduction of this joyless little wart. But on the other hand: you pinned the future of your company on a rebadged Tata Indica, what else did you expect to happen?

Because that’s what the CityRover was: a (very) lightly reskinned Indian runabout cobbled together in a desperate attempt to keep Rover afloat. Of course, the Dacia Sandero has since proven that buyers will happily stomach a less-than-cutting-edge offering if it’s a) honest about its humble heritage, and b) dead cheap. But the CityRover wasn’t honest, and it certainly wasn’t cheap. Buyers saw straight through it. The CityRover quickly sank below the waves, and Rover with it.