SAIC has big plans for MG in Europe

SAIC Motor, China’s largest domestic carmaker, intends to use its manufacturing facility in England to revive the iconic British sportscar brand MG in Europe, the South China Morning Post reported. SAIC gained control of MG Rover’s Longbridge, Birmingham, plant in 2007, and has previously purchased the design rights and technology to the Rover 25 and Rover 75. These designs were used to develop the domestic Chinese Roewe and MG 6 models. In its effort to use its English facilities to make inroads into the European Union by the end of 2010, rather than manufacturing the established MG Roadster vehicle, the Shanghai automaker will produce cars based on its own designs, potentially manufacturing knocked-down kits in China and assembling them in England.