MG. A phoenix rising from the ashes
MG Cars is a British automotive company, famous for 2-seat convertible sports cars, interesting and unusual for their time. MG could be killed off many times, but it was rising self-born from the ashes again and again. MG brand now belongs to the Chinese Nanjing Automobile Group, which helped the British brand be reborn and resume the production of MG sports cars. How did all this happen?
Today, the MG car brand belongs to Nanjing Automobile Group, a Chinese automotive corporation, which breathed the second wind (or – according to our information – the fourth wind!) breath into the British brand and restored the production line of MG sports cars. NAC, the oldest car manufacturer in China, owns the rights to many other British brands: Austin, Rover, and some others. Well, NAC itself is part of the Chinese state corporation SAIC Motor - China’s largest car production and export, it accounts for a quarter of all car sales in China. In the Forbes list for 2019, SAIC Motor ranks 100th in the world.
Birth
This all has started with a simple bicycle mechanic William Morris, who opened his small car retail store in the early 20th century. In 1910, there was Morris Garage, a major car retail center. The name of the brand MG actually stands for ‘Morris Garage’. Becoming the largest car dealer, Morris did not stop and decided to start producing his own cars under the MG brand. Created on the basis of the car Morris Minor, equipped with a top valve motor, the cars became relatively fast and rather affordable sports cars. Well, production models, MG allowed it to take a leading place in international sports.
The name of the brand MG actually stands for ‘Morris Garage’. William Morris opened this small car retail store in the early 20th century, in 1910.
In 1927, the most famous car of this brand - MG Midget was born. It was a 2-seat roadster, which later inspired the designers to create the TF roadster. MG Midget made the MG brand really popular. And then come the years of oblivion and stagnation…
The MG brand was slowly dying… it didn’t produce new cars until the ‘50s of the 20th century when it became a part of the British Motor Corporation together with another British company – Austin. That was the first (but not the last!) rebirth of MG. The brand had successful roadsters: MGA, MGB, MGC, and the new generation of Midget. In 1968, strong and popular brands Rover, Jaguar, and Triumph joined BMC Corporation to form a new company, British Leyland Corporation. What’s about MG? They stopped funding it… even the factory personnel was dismissed.
And the second rebirth happened! In 1982, the management of British Leyland decided to start producing small cars under the brand name MG. So the MG logo appeared on small cars Metro, Maestro, Montego, and the electric car called Impact.
But even this did not save the brand from another sale. Since 1990, MG became the property of BMW. In 2000, BMW, combining its loss-making British assets - MG and Rover - into a single MG Rover Group, sold them for a nominal sum of £1 to a specially assembled group of businessmen known as the Phoenix Consortium. But even Phoenix failed to raise MG’s glory from ashes. Huge losses and low sales led necessitated MG to be bought by the Chinese Nanjing Automobile Group in 2005 for just £53M.
Rebirth
NAG was able to revive MG! The brand was reborn for the third time. NAG established the production of the former MG models in PRC with some upgrades. MG7 model, similar to Rover 75, and sedans MG350, MG550, and MG750 appeared.
Having united MG and Rover into the MG Rover Group, BMW sold both of them for just £1 to the newly established group of businessmen called Phoenix Consortium.
In 2007, NAC merged with SAIC, and since that moment, MG is reborn for the fourth time and for real! MG production returns to its historic homeland, England. In autumn 2008, MG finally released its first model in a long time - MGTF LE 500. In May 2011 the production of MG6 GT, C class hatchback, was launched. Shortly, a sedan MG6 Magnette was released. In 2013, a 5-door hatchback MG 3 saw the world.
At the moment, MG3 and MG6 hatchbacks are successfully sold in variations: GT, Magnette sedan, light sports-style hatchback with a 1.8-L 160-hp turbo engine. - BTCC Edition. For reference, the British Touring Car Championship or BTCC is the British Cars Road Racing Championship, where MG cars returned in 2012. The company plans to produce small crossovers MG CS and MG Icon. In development is a coupe, and perhaps even a convertible, believed to continue the traditions of MG F and MG TF.
MG brand rose from the ashes several times, and now it continues old good British traditions under the wing of China.
