8 May 2008

Production of the MG TF LE500 sportscar will start at the former MG Rover plant at Longbridge in Birmingham at the beginning of August, Nanjing Automobile's new UK chairman announced.

 

He Xiao Qing said that the first cars from Longbridge would be delivered to showrooms in the UK for sale in September. He's appointment was also announced today.

 

He said that there had been delays to the plans to resume MG production in the UK, with a process of "planning, reorganisation, active quality improvements and parts optimisation that we recognise resulted in frustration for our stakeholders". He added: "We are now fully focused on bringing our hard work to fruition."

 

Nanjing Automobile announced that it would resume production of the MG TF at Longbridge more than 18 months ago. In the mean time, Nanjing itself has been acquired by the much bigger Shanghai Automobile Industrial Corporation, and SAIC's technical centre at Leamington, 20 miles from Longbridge, has taken over the design work for MG models.

 

He Xiao Qing has a background in trade, legal and financial departments and has been on the board of NAC MG UK since it was formed. He was part of the team that acquired Longbridge and the MG assets from the defunct MG Rover group.