Autoblog

Nanjing is still hanging IV bags on the battered carcass of MG, and there's a new hatchback model coming for 2010 that the automaker hopes will breathe new life into the the brand. Based on SAIC's Roewe 550, the new hatchback is about the size of a Euro Focus, and will reportedly be built at the historical MG home of Longbridge, in the UK. The car looks a little flashier than the Roewe version, and engineers from Ricardo are lending development expertise to make sure the suspension settings are all that they should be. Inside, there's a BMW-esque instrument panel, and underhood will be a 1.8-liter four cylinder, either naturally aspirated or turbocharged. With the flurry of new activity at MG -- there's the MG TF and ZS, as well as more models coming soon -- color may be returning to the cheeks of a brand once thought as good as dead.

[Source: Auto Express]

Nanjing Automobile Corp. will celebrate its 60th birthday on March 27, 2007, and the star of the party will be a shiny new MG. Deputy chairman Lu Zhenxin announced Wednesday that Nanjing's first MG will roll off the line on the company's birthday.

The company's new factory in Nanjing is under construction, and when completed will be able to pump out 200,000 MG cars and 250,000 engines a year. Some vehicles will be sent on to the former MG Rover plant in the U.K. for final assembly, and the first MG TF roadster could drive out of the U.K. plant as early as April 8, 2007, two years to the day after the plant ceased production.

U.S. production at the company's planned Oklahoma facility is scheduled for 2008.

[Source: Reuters]

Say what you will about Nanjing Automobile Group's ability to revive the MG brand after picking up MG Rover's assets following the British firm's 2005 implosion, but you have to admit they have they have a firm grasp of the art of leaking information to the press. Following on the heels of last week's leak/rumor/announcement that Nanjing will resume production of MGs at the dormant Longbridge plant in the U.K. comes today's word that the company plans to sell MGs in the U.S., and may even manufacture them in North America.

The MG brand disappeared from dealerships on the left side of the pond in 1980, but you can check out the MG model range, circa 2005, at the MG Rover website. The model rumored to head up the brand's relaunch is the MG TF (above).

A formal announcement of the company's plans is slated for July 17 at the British Motor Show.

[Source: AutoWeek]

BMW said Tuesday that it is "in discussions with several parties" interested in buying the rights to the Rover brand name. Two of the suitors are Chinese rivals SAIC and Nanjing Auto, both of which ended up with a piece of MG Rover when the company went under, while rights to the brand itself reverted to BMW.

SAIC owns the intellectual property for the Rover 25 and 75 models, which it intends to use to build its own version of one or both cars. Nanjing Auto actually owns the rest of MG Rover, and plans to use the technology it acquired to build MG75 sedans beginning in 2007.

[Source: Reuters via BBC News]

The latest twist in the ongoing saga of the collapse of British automaker MG Rover is the resurrection of the Rover in China - twice. In its own inscrutable fashion, the Chinese government has authorized both Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. and Nanjing Automotive Corp. to produce versions of the Rover 75 sedan (pictured at right).

This bizarre turn of events resulted when SAIC bought the intellectual property rights to the Rover 25 and 75 sedans, but lost a bidding war for the production tooling to Nanjing Auto. Both companies are state-owned, with powerful allies in Beijing, so the central government came up with the Solomon-like decision to allow both companies to produce Rover-based cars.

Neither company owns the rights to the Rover brand name, still held by BMW, but both are trying to acquire it.

Of the two, Nanjing Auto has the biggest plans, including exports to the UK and Spain and revival of MG models.

Unfortunately, both companies' political clout seems to exceed their automotive engineering and production expertise. Nonetheless, both companies are forging ahead, with an SAIC model to be launched "soon" and Nanjing's version expected in late 2007. If you want a preview of what they might look like, check out the MG Rover website here.