MGs all set for the UK

By Andrew English

04th May 2007

MG is heading back to the UK, and the first model to be built under its new Chinese ownership will go on sale here before the end of the year.

Nanjing Automobile, China's oldest motor manufacturer and the firm that bought MG for £53m, will bring the TF soft-top back to the UK. What's more, it will be built at MG's Long-bridge home in the Midlands.

A slightly restyled version of the MG ZT will follow, called the MG 7. There will also be a tweaked MG ZS, named the MG 5, and a signi­ficantly updated MG ZR - the MG 3.

The three latter cars were revealed at the Shanghai Motor Show last week, where rival Chinese firm SAIC also took the wraps off an all-new Ford Focus-rivalling Rover 45 replacement, called the Roewe W2 (Issue 958).

Although the TF will go on sale here before the summer's end, the MG 7 will not arrive until September at the earliest, while it will be 2008 before we see the MG 3 and 5.

Production of MGs is already well underway at a £185m purpose-built plant in China, but Nanjing hopes to import bodies and parts into the UK for assembly of the 3, 5 and 7 alongside the TF at Longbridge. Currently the British plant has 115 employees, but Nanjing plans to increase this to 800 and optimistically wants to sell 50,000 MG models in Europe within two years' time.

When the revised MG TF goes on sale, it should carry a price tag similar to that of its predecessor, starting at around £16,000.