Vauxhall is geared up to help MG return to the UK thanks to an agreement in China between Vauxhall parent General Motors and long-time Chinese partner SAIC Motor Corp.
But the deal will not mean Vauxhall dealers selling MGs, stressed GM Europe boss Nick Reilly, speaking at the Detroit show.
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“SAIC want to start selling MGs in the UK and we will help them but it will be a separate franchise and not through Vauxhall dealers,” he said.
“We know the market, the dealerships and will facilitate their entry into the UK,” said Reilly, former boss of Vauxhall.
The GM-SAIC partnership has long been considered the most successful one in the Chinese auto industry. GM became the first foreign car maker to sell more than 2m vehicles in China, passing that threshold in the first 11 months of 2010.
SAIC became the owner of MG Rover’s Longbridge plant after a merger with its much smaller peer, Nanjing Automobile Group, in late 2007. The company wants to start selling MGs in the UK by the end of this year before rolling them out across other EU markets.
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