Jalopnik: nanjing auto

Geely GT Steals Our Hearts, MG Police Car Arrests Them

Matt Hardigree — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:40:00 EDT

We have to give Nanjing Auto/Shanghai Auto/Ason Unique credit for taking care of their MG brand. MG/Rover has a long history of making awesome police cars back in Britain and the Chinese version of the company has been making vehicles for both the Chinese police and the army. And while we're not big on Chinese authorities, what with the human rights abuses, we have to admit this MG TF convertible police car is quite rad. We especially like the shark fin stalk holding up the cherry.

This is technically happening at the Beijing Police And Equipment show next door to the Beijing Motor Show. The only drawback to this model is that you can't arrest more than one person at a time. But that's a small price to pay for looking so good. [AuotSina via The Tycho]

MG's Still Being Made In Britain? Someone Call The Badge Police

Matt Hardigree — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:40:00 EDT

If only the Brits could hold on to their car companies. The moving of their formerly great/adequate/tolerable brands around the world is continuing to create confusion. We know that Tata owns Rover and Nanjing/SAIC owns the MG Rover designs.... or at least we think we know that. We just learned a company in Britain is producing a handful of MG's every month with the MG badge. How? We explain below the jump.

It turns out MG Sport & Racing wasn't part of the deal when all the Nanjing Auto maddness went down. This apparently included the right to produce the Qvale Mangusta-based MG XPower SV. A British company stepped up to fill the tiny vacuum created by the loss of Xpower production. Powered by a a 4.6-Liter Ford V8, this sports car can be yours for the low, low price of about $150,000. With production limited to six per month, these cars are certainly unique. Worried about finding parts? Have no fear as this car is made out of a plethora of other cars. For instance, notice those headlights? Standard Fiat Punto.

That's right MG fans, rejoice away as it's the car company that will never die. [Birmingham Mail via China Car Times]

MG Re-Revival Continues After Shanghai Auto-Nanjing Deal

Matt Hardigree — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:00:00 EST

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.

Still following us? Now SAIC technically owns the brand, the MG name and some MG technology. SAIC also has the cash resources of a small Eastern European country and could therefore truly resurrect the brand worldwide. Whether or not that will happen is still anyone's guess. [Reuters]