After more than a quarter century of troubles, including being sold by BMW for the princely sum of 10 British pounds, the iconic British brand has officially returned under the stewardship of China's Nanjing Automobile Group, which bought MG Rover in 2005 for 53 million pounds, or roughly $93 million at 2005 exchange rates.
The first Chinese-made MG, unveiled outside a plant in the city of Nanjing, was a green MG TF roadster, reports Reuters. Two models of the MG 7 sedan were also unveiled in front of the 1,000 person audience comprised of government officials and media.
Nanjing Auto plans on using the MG brand not only to target the pocketbooks of wealthier Chinese, but also to reach the global market. The company plans to restart production at the old MG plant in Longbridge in May, with both Chinese and English-built MGs to be sold in Europe. It is also is in talks with government officials about a plan to build MGs in Oklahoma.
Nanjing also recently announced that it is prepared to sell up to a 50 percent stake in Nanjing MG, the company created by Nanjing to lead the MG effort, in order to secure financing for its aggressive expansion plans.
Nanjing hopes to reach annual sales of 200,000 MGs within five years, which seems like a stretch to us. The cars will range in price between $23,255 and $51,710. For those prices, they better be well made. And the basic question remains: how well the new Chinese MGs will be received by the U.S. (when they finally get here) and the rest of the world.
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