Paging Dr. Acula

[randy_byers]

Just read two interesting stories about the global economy in the online New York Times. The first was about a Chinese company, Nanjing Automobile Group, that is planning to open a plant in Oklahoma to make MGs. It is the first Chinese carmaker to open a factory in the US, and of course it would do so with a British brand that hasn't been sold in the US since the mid-'80s, right? The cute conclusion, quoting Jeremy Anwyl of a consumers advice website, "Hopefully some of the electrical problems you wouldn’t bring back," he said. "If you really want to go for nostalgia, you put on a leaky roof."

The other story is about biotech companies that are establishing outposts in the US in order to attract venture capital. This includes a Scottish company, Cyclacel that has done a "reverse merger" with a Seattle company named Xcyte Therapies. A "reverse merger" is when a company is nominally acquired by another, while actually retaining control, in order to acquire the Nasdaq listing of the US company. Xcyte was apparently foundering on its own. But the funny line from this story was, "Paion, which is developing a stroke drug derived from vampire bat saliva ... "

Okay, we can all write the script to that movie, can't we?

Comments

[daveon.livejournal.com]

Depending on who you speak to, the MG-F isn't all that bad a car. Well, I quite liked them. It has its quirks but nonething like the old MG problems, especially the electrical ones which dogged pretty much every 60s and 70s English car.

I'll hazard they would be a more entertaining drive than many USian cars :)

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Well, the reason the Chinese company is resurrecting the MG is that a lot of people think MGs are fun to drive. You still see old ones around here, for sure. I'm guessing they'll have their tops up right at the moment.

And there's a reason why the US car manufacturers are following the British into bankruptcy ...