Nanjing Automobile Corporation (NAC) will assemble the two-seater at the historic West Midlands plant, where a special ceremony marked the re-opening of the production line this week after two years lying dormant.
It has been widely anticipated that the first cars will be ready to enter MG's network of around 40 dealers by September, but NAC's UK sales chief, Gary Hagen, told us: "We won't let any models go out until we are 100 per cent happy with the build quality."
He added the firm would be prepared to hold up distribution by "a month or so", putting back delivery to dealers from "late autumn to early winter". Around 3,000 vehicles will be made at Longbridge over the next year.