Chinese carmaker to manufacture MGs for European market by end of this year
SAIC Motor, China’s biggest automaker, plans to sell its UK-made MG cars in Europe at the end of the year as it moves to revive the British vintage brand it took over three years ago.
SAIC, which has had initial success selling its own-brand cars domestically, has joined the rush of Chinese automakers, including Geely Automobile Holdings, hoping to make a name globally.
Assembly of MG-series models, including the MG 6, would begin at its Longbridge plant in England late this year, SAIC chairman said Hu Maoyuan at Shanghai’s annual People’s Political Consultative Conference.
“We want to get our UK plant up and running,” Hu said. “MG models will not only be sold in Britain but also in other European countries through its existing dealership networks.”
SAIC, a General Motors and Volkswagen partner in China, became the owner of MG Rover’s 10,000-unit Longbridge plant in Birmingham in 2007, after a merger with its much smaller peer, Nanjing Automobile Group.
It launched its first self-developed car, the Roewe 750, based on acquired technologies, in March of that year, followed by the Roewe 550 and MG 6 models, popular with young, elite professionals in China.