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Note to marketers: you probably don't want to carry the poolroom metaphors too far when you're applying them to an automobile. More »
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The city of Nanjing is set to receive a drive-in automobile museum. That's right, just like a Safari, you'll be able to observe China's finest automobiles from the safety of your own car. More »
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A disgruntled Chinese bus driver in Nanjing killed an unsuspecting motorcyclist yesterday, dragging him GTA-style for well over three miles before finally being stopped. The graphic? That ran in the local paper. [via Shanghaiist] More »
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Shanghai Automotive plans to introduce four new MG models to the UK market starting next year. The company just relaunched production of the MG TF with a limited edition run of 500 vehicles, but its plans to bring MG to the USA have fallen through. All four models will be built at Longbridge, which is currently having its production capacity expanded with new staff and equipment to handle the task. Shanghai (which merged with Nanjing last year) claims this assures the future of the historically troubled facility. But what new models is MG bringing to market? Will the just be based on sub-par Chinese vehicles? Can MG really find sales success? More »
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Now that almost everyone would drive a Japanese and now a Korean car, it's worth asking if you all would drive a Chinese car. In fact, given all that's coming out at this year's explosive Beijing Motor Show, it is a harder question than it has been in the past. Though there are questions of quality and originality, cars like the Geely GT do capture the imagination. With the Koreans moving up-scale, it is quite possible the cheaper-than-thou market is opening up. We all like value. More »
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Yesterday we commented on the merger between Shanghai/Nanjing Auto and what it might mean for the Chinese market. What we didn't comment on is what this means for the ongoing MG Saga. Nanjing owned the MG badge, and markets the MG7 while SAIC markets the Roewe, which is based on MG technology. More »
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Shanghai Automotive (SAIC) has devoured the smaller Nanjing Automobile to make an even larger state-owned automotive company. In the deal, SAIC gets increased capacity in order to compete with foreign car companies and Nanjing will get approximately 320 million shares of SAIC. Though we've had a bit of bad luck with mergers (Daimler-Chysler, Ford-Volvo, GM-Krispy Kreme), the market in China is still rather young and consolidations of this type can often be beneficial for everyone involved. More »
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For people whose glass is always half full. And who don't stick a toe in the water; they jump right on in. For free thinkers. And free expression. And self-starters. And absolutely everyone with a lust for life. People who leap straight out of bed, first thing they put on is a smile. Who dare to try something different. And it's exactly those nincompoops who will first buy a Chinese-built MG roadster. (Okay, we added that last sentence.) That first part is from a glimmering section of ad copy found on the MG TF website — that is, the site announcing the relaunch of the MG TF by new owner, China's Nanjing Motors. No matter that the TF's internals are as old as Prince William's, we hear Lotus has been consulting with Nanjing to update its engines and other mechanicals. And according to reports, the company has designs on the US, where the last MG model limped shoreward from a rusty scupper during the late Carter Administration. More thrills and spills to come. [MG UK via AutoExpress] More »
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Automotive News reports that the sporting car revival is set to begin at Chinese MG dealers next month. The long version of the MG will pack a 2.5 liter engine and a pricetag of 39,940 bucks. Three shorter versions will feature a 1.8 liter powerplant and a sticker of 22,630 to 26,590 dollars. The MG global launch will begin in UK and Europe markets near the end of this year. Nanjing MG Automotive and rival SAIC Motor are also discussing a merger, presumably so that they can produce the Super 7 Long Life Version MG to compete directly with worldwide sporting car rivals. More »
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Malaysia, Russia and Britain could be seeing the reborn MG on their roads as soon as the second half of next year. Nanjing Auto — who plucked the marque from a cluster of classic British brands that never truly recovered from the British Leyland debacle — claims that they've passed UK emissions testing and are ready to go. They're also talking about a tie-up with SAIC, who are launching facelifted Rovers under the Roewe brand. At the present time, there are no plans to build the new MG 7s in Blighty. Man, that's kinda gotta smart, old chaps. – Davey G. Johnson More »
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Among the myriad plans to revive British sports car marques, the Austin Healey saga has been at the forefront. And considering two posts in the past two years equals the forefront, expectations are down at croc level. And while that's likely for the best, there's this: Trademark owners Nanjing Auto have signed on with Healey Automobile Consultants Ltd and HFI Automotive Ltd to develop new cars badged as Healey and Austin-Healey. Last year, HFI released the teaser above to attract interest in its cause, and reportedly started taking deposits. The interest likely filtered to the top of Nanjing, which is looking to leverage its MG-Rover assets to expand its fledgling British empire. Maybe more lads from Longbridge will be picking up their mothballed lunch pails sooner than we'd thought. – Mike Spinelli More »
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The MG TF, a car so ridiculously out-of-date that it ended up in a Top Gear challenge, joining the company of the Maserati Merak, the VW Vanagon, the Porsche 924 and the 3rd Gen Camaro, has gone back into production. At the press of a button by Liang Baohua, Governor of China's eastern province of Jiangsu and Birmingham City Councilor Mike Whitby, the vaguely Paleozoic sportster began dumping itself off the production line at Longbridge, fulfilling Nanjing's promise to bring MG production back to Longbridge. We're not saying that the Chinese aren't a credible threat to the balance of global automaking power, but if this is how they start off, well, it's gonna take 'em a few more years to get it right. – Davey G. Johnson More »
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This must seem like a step back in time for Brits who haven't seen an MG Streetwise since 2005. But China's Nanjing is reviving the model, which traces its roots all the way back to the Honda-sourced Rover 200 circa 1995. But in China's car industry — at least at the moment — 1995 technology isn't quite past its sell-by date. Car magazine speculates this car could have been built before MG-Rover melted down, and before the tooling was shipped off to Nanjing's own facilities. But the next bunch will likely be China-built. Considering Nanjing still builds a car based on a 1984 Seat, the Streetwise is like a car of the future. – Mike Spinelli More »
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What's Nanjing's plan to revive MG-Rover? According to an online brochure, it may entail a new version of the erstwhile Rover RDX60 crossover concept. It may also entail one of the scariest looking designs (above) since the sand worms in "Dune." Anyone have a cure for goosebumps? Oh yeah, looking at old British roadsters should do the trick. – Mike Spinelli More »
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Good news for the UK auto industry — or at least part of it. Nanjing Automobile, the Chinese carbakery that snapped up most of MG Rover Group's assets, says it's re-starting production of MG cars at the company's Longbridge plant in the UK by mid-2007. The plant's been idle for nearly two years as MG Rover ownership fled East in a big hurry. Longbridge will do mainly assembly work — screwing together parts manufactured in China. The first fruit of the factory will be the long-in-the-tooth MG TF roadster, which will be sold in the UK and China. Might we be seeing the sports-car bargain of Old Blighty, or will the rehabbed model be a steaming pile of crap, its sporting British soul rendered in caricature? Watch this space. – Mike Spinelli More »
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To be fair, MG isn't an acronym, having originally stood for "Morris Garages," but "backbreviation" is not yet in the regular dork parlance. Regardless, Nanjing just pulled a stupid in retrofitting the age-old brand with the new "Modern Gentleman" marque. British motoring as we know it is truly, truly dead. Help us Charles Morgan, you're our only hope. – Davey G. Johnson More »
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In Bee-Em's purchase of a pantsful of Rover holdings, they walked off with the rights to the Rover name. Post-selloff-debacle, they shunted the Land Rover bits to Ford, but held on, rather inexplicably, to the rights to the Rover name, giving FoMoCo the option to purchase it. Word's just come down that Ford finally picked up. Now, with Shanghai Auto doing the MG thing, and despite the fact that nobody besides aging Brits care about the brand, Ford's saying that they think it's a good thing to hold onto, despite the fact that they're not going to turn and burn it. Our take? Either they're gonna include it in a package selloff to rid themselves of Land Rover, or they'll sell it to Nanjing, just to piss off SAIC. More »
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Word's come down from the People's 'Public of Chizza: The first Chinese-built MG will roll off the line, completely without irony, on new parent company Nanjing's 60th birthday. That date is March 27, 2007, according to Nanjing's deputy chairman Lu Zhenxin. The company's new factory, now under constructon, is reportedly being tooled up with an eye toward turning out 200,000 MG cars and a quarter-million engines per year. The shuttered UK-based MG plant in Longbridge, which will handle some final assembly chores of the decade-old TF, could open exactly two years from the date of its closure (April 8, 2005), while a US plant in Oklahoma could open its doors in 2008. More »
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Former British rivals MG and Rover are facing new competition from China: each other. China's Shanghai Automotive (SAIC), having lost the bidding war for many of MG Rover's assets — including the MG name — to Nanjing last year, reportedly spent $21 million to buy the rights to the Rover name from BMW. The deal could still be derailed by Ford, which according to the UK's Guardian, holds rights of first refusal for the brand name after buying Land Rover from BMW in 2000. (And, if SAIC does get Rover, it's banned from building off-road vehicles under the name.) Still, with MG on a high-profile push for expansion, but SAIC having far more financial juice than Nanjing, the fight for bizarro British rule in China is bound to be a hoot, if nothing else. More »
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The Nanjing-Oklahoma Saga sounds could be an epic novel about the railroad building in the old west, and the name of Duke T. Hale fits someone who might be hiding a pickaxe under his ten-gallon hat. Of course, Hale, president and CEO of the newly formed MG Cars North America/Europe, is actually an auto industry veteran who's worked for Ford, Chrysler, Volvo, Mazda, Isuzu and Lotus. In his latest job, he's got the unenviable task of reviving a storied British marque — known as much for electrical fires as for open-top exhilaration — which is now owned by a Chinese company, by way of a plan that calls for building cars in Oklahoma. On top of that, he's got a boss who may not understand questions from the press, and thus wind up talking out of school. Edmunds' Michele Krebs recently interviewed Hale about MG's return, the Chinese connection, and what manner of open- or closed-top sportsters might we expect in the US. More »
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Sweet Peet D. pulls out the shotgun and claims that the auto industry, what with its Dr. Z's, proposed Japanese-Franco-American mergers and Oklahoman built, Sino-Anglo MGs (where's Booker T. when you need him?) has gone "ballistic." We don't know about that. 'Ballistic" generally implies some sort of trajectory is involved, no matter how loopy. There's no trajectory here. We prefer the phrase, "grasping at straws." As such, we offer up an anecdote after the jump. More »
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Not so fast, Okies! That's the word from China's Nanjing Motors, new owner of MG-Rover. Last week, word came down that the company is reportedly planning a factory in Oklahoma to build new MG sports cars for the states, with the first models coming in two years. But at the British Motor Show, the company distanced itself from the news like it was 100-year-old oyster sauce. More »
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"I say MG, what do you think? When I say Geely, Chery, Shanghai, what do you think?" asks Duke Hale, head of North American operations for MG. Truthfully, Duke. We think, "Crappy Lucas electrics." Then we think of zippy little runabout droptops. But the reworked TF that Nanjing's going to sell here is actually a hardtop, which isn't something that the brand had a lot of success with here in the US. Their planned Oklahoma facility would churn out 12,000 to 16,000 TFs a year, with 60 percent of those headed for the American market. Can Nanjing pull it off? Will Americans buy a British-designed, Oklahoma-built car owned by a Chinese company? Study the price point very hard, fellas. More »
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Our buddy Yozzie just pulled this hot one off the AP wire: More »
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As reported in February, the Nanjings signed a 33-year lease on Rover's Longbridge facility, with a clause to opt out if they decided within six months that they couldn't make a go of it. Apparently, much like the Little Engine that Could, they think they can. Currently slated is the return of the MGTF, which should go on sale in August of '07. More »
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The Anglo-American consortium that owns Healey Automobile Consultants Ltd. announced it's moving forward with new models inspired by the Healey 3000, in convertible and coupe versions. The company, HFI released a sketch and a partial image of the coupe, which shows a badge reminicent of the original Austin-Healey logo. The company will badge the cars as Healey, not Austin-Healey, which is a separate legal trademark owned by the Healey group and Nanjing Auto, the new owner of MG Rover. The company said it's taking deposits on the cars, of which 203 are scheduled to be built. At some point. More »
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So them crafty Nanjings seemed to have signed a 33-year lease on the Longbridge plant to build MG cars. With one important clause. If the Chinese automaker decides they can't make a go of MG at Longbridge within six months, they're out like trout. Meanwhile, this is yet another setback for the Kimber Consortium, who plan to take over DCX's smart roadster production and were hoping to tack an MG badge on there. Hey Kimbers: y'know, we betcha the Bavarian Motor Workers would sell you the Rover name pretty cheap... [Thanks to Punkey for the tip.] More »
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The latest rumor in the ongoing trials and travails of sporting motorcars wearing the MG badge just took an interesting turn. David James, who may purchase the smart Roadster goods from DCX, is looking to build the cars at an old Dunlop plant in Coventry, for an estimated thirty mill in the Euros. He's also in negotions with Nanjing for the rights to the MG name. And you know what? We think this actually makes some sense. The question is, what happens when the time comes for a redesign? More »
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HFI, an Anglo-American consortium, has purchased Healey Automotive Consultants from the family of Donald Healey, and they've apparently got one roadworthy prototype done and another in the hopper. But here's where the plot thickens Austin Healey fans may remember that a group called GB Sports was in negotiations with Nanjing, who bought the withered husk of MG last year. The wicket gets stickier after the jump. More »
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According to the peach-colored UK business rag, The Financial Times, a new firm staffed by Rover alums will announce a joint venture with Nanjing Automobile — the new owners of MG Rover — to restart production of MG cars. The venture, GB Sports Car, is backed by US-based financiers and will restart production of the MG TF sports cars and ZT sedans at the former Rover factory in Longbridge, Birmingham, supplemented with new models from China. The Austin Healey brand would also be revived for a line of upmarket sports cars. Still, don't break out the pie and chips quite yet — the British government has launched an investigation into the demise of MG Rover last year, which could open up some old wounds, but won't likely affect the deal. More »
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Reader Neil put down his bag of lentils long enough to write in and let us know that Brit mag Autocar's running a bit on the controversy over the resurrection of Austin-Healey. Since Neil ain't got nothin' but long hair, soup and Vyvyan for a roommate, and we got no Autocar scrip either, we're left with the wonder of the Googles, which found us this: a group called GB Sports (not the Krish Bhaskar-headed, Monaco-based concern that we reported on earlier) is dealing with Nanjing Auto holders of the Rover bag to build Austin-Healeys at the Longbridge plant in Birmingham. Somehow, we've got a feeling this one's gonna flop big-time. More »
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Nanjing Automobile, the new, China-based owner of MG Rover, has a five year plan. By 2010, the company wants to be building 100,000 cars a year. But before it reaches that milestone, it wants to get at least some of the blokes out of the pub and from around the brazier (sorry, Jeremy) and get Rover's Birmingham plant back to the task of building cars. The company had already announced in August it was planning to revive the MG brand in collaboration with GB Sports Cars, its UK partners. According to the Telegraph, production of MG TF and MG ZT models could start by late 2006, depending on the progression of the development of engines that meet new EU emissions standards. More information on Rover models that will make the cut (i.e., the 27 and 75 models) is likely forthcoming. More »
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AutoWonder reports on some clever backstory regarding the sale of MG Rover to China's Nanjing Automobile. According to a report in China's Sina Auto, Nanjing's relationship with bidding-war rival Shanghai Auto (SAIC) had been contentious ever since SAIC beat Nanjing out of a preliminary joint venture deal with MG Rover. Could this be the sound of MGs 75s being pounded into swords? More »
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Chinese carmaker Nanjing Automobile will buy the assets of MG Rover, Reuters reported earlier today, saving the storied British carmaker — founded by King Arthur in the year 800 — from the scrapheap of automotive history. Nanjing's bid to purchase the company's assets — worth a reported $90 million to $175 million — was selected by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the company's legal administrator, over a competing one by Shanghai Automotive (SAIC), which offerred to buy MG Rover and its engine-producing company, Powertrain. More »
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