The new MG 6 hatchback will be sold in Europe from the end of this year, according to the chairman of MG's parent company.
China’s largest car maker, SAIC, bought MG Rover’s Longbridge plant in 2007 and it plans to sell the British-built MG 6 in British and European dealerships.
SAIC chairman Hu Maoyuan told Reuters that production of the MG 6 would begin at Longbridge later this year and European sales would follow immediately after.
“We want to get our UK plant up and running," he said. “MG models will not only be sold in Britain but also in other European countries through its existing dealership networks.”
Final production plans have yet to be revealed, but Maoyuan said one option would be to make knocked-down MG 6 kits in China which would then be assembled at Longbridge.
“The idea is to take advantage of the existing MG sales network in Europe as well as the cost advantage in China,” he said.
Maoyuan said the firm has yet to set any sales targets for the UK but is confident the history of the MG badge will ensure the new company is a success.
“We have no sales target in the UK or other European countries,” said. “MG is pretty well known there, though.”
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Re: MG 6 to be sold in Europe
Really; so what magic do the Japanese possess other than determination and will to create a car like the MX5? Your country created this segment; you just needed the desire to fix/improve and fine tune existing product, you didn’t have to reinvent the wheel. In retrospect all the Japanese have done is plagiarize your designs and as much as I like the MX5 (I have owned 2) it never had the soul of the UK cars; it was nice to drive but somehow felt very generic, like bulk sacks of breakfast flakes. I have driven many MGs, Triumphs and Austin Healeys and they were all great drives and all suffered from the same problem; great concept, poor execution. In others words if they just bothered to fix the damn problems that were well known they could still be here today and I would have purchased a MGB GT and a Triumph GT6 instead of the last 2 MX5s.
Build an “English sportscar”; wasn’t that your rational to stop buying them in the first place?
Re: MG 6 to be sold in Europe
Maybe what some MG fetishists can't accept is this is where MG was going to have to go because trying to drag a fifties style sportcars into the 21st century wasn't going to work, the Japanese arrived, we got the MX5, before that Toyota with the Celica and MR2, so trying to hold as dying relic's head above water was a waste of time, give the Chinese a chance, this could be a good car,and if it's successful they might even build an English sportscar.
Re: MG 6 to be sold in Europe
The MG 6 looks a bit like the Rover R50 prototype, that was nearly signed off ready for production, before BMW took over. The R30 went on to be the BMW 1 series. And being an ex MG 75 ZT owner, that chassis was brilliant. For the limited money available, the MG/Rover engineers made one great chassis with BMW's help.
Good luck to them. I hope it is successful, and hopefully create some much needed work for the UK. Too many cars are looking alike, and drive alike, so something a little different, and priced right, might just surprise the market and potential owners!
The quad cam KV6 is a much underated engine, and has got huge hidden potential for development. The heads are basically the same as a 4 Pot K series, and those are well known for producing great power, so lets see if they do any development here.