Rover today launched a fierce attack on national media who are threatening the morale of Oxford workers building its flagship car.

The criticism came after the Daily Mail printed an aerial picture of the Cowley plant which, it said, showed thousands of unsold Rover 75s.

It carried the caption - What are the only man-made objects you can see from space? Answer: The Great Wall of China and fields full of unsold Rover 75s. In fact, the photograph showed fewer than the 1,500 cars at Rover Group's main distribution centre at Cowley, where all Rover cars are held before they are shipped out worldwide.

The centre has a new railhead, built with the aid of a £350,000 Government grant, which will eventually allow Rover to ship out more than 30,000 cars a year by rail.

Rover spokesman Vin Hammersley said: "I just don't know where these people are coming from.

"One of the first calls I had after this appeared was from our personnel people at Cowley who said this sniping is demoralising our people. We have been through a bad time and this stuff is not designed to help us. "The simple truth is that every car maker in this country has a car distribution centre - ours is one of the smaller ones.

"You can fly an aeroplane over Peugeot's plant at Ryton, Coventry; Jaguar in Allesley, Coventry; Ford at Halewood and Nissan in Sunderland and get pictures showing even more cars.

"Why they have got it in for Rover at Oxford is beyond me. I am absolutely speechless."

Mr Hammersley said the Rover 75 was actually selling very well, with 5,000 cars sold in the UK in the first three months and 70 per cent of the 2,800-a-week being produced going for export. He said: "The fact is this car is an absolute success. It has won two car of the year awards and is the best, highest quality car Rover has made."

Rover has re-introduced Sunday working at Cowley for the first time in 30 years, to meet demand for the new Rover 75.

Workers have been brought in from plants at Swindon and Birmingham to boost the Oxford workforce.

The row flared as Rover today unveiled two smaller cars which it hopes will accelerate sales. The new Rover 25 and Rover 45, which were being unveiled at the London Motor Show at Earls Court, are the latest products from Rover's Longbridge plant in Birmingham.

Both new Rovers share the distinctive four-headlamp styling of the executive Cowley-built Rover 75 flagship saloon.

Story date: Tuesday 19 October

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