Executives from Nanjing Automobile are outlining the company’s plans for the dormant Longbridge motor plant in Birmingham in the UK today. The Chinese group bought MG Rover last year.
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It is expected that production will not reach pre-collapse levels. However, the group appears committed to the site having signed a 33-year lease in February.
Earlier this month, senior officials of Nanjing Automobile confirmed the revival of the historic MG brand as well as plans to assemble a new coupe model in Oklahoma, following the formation of MG Motors North America.
The news followed an earlier announcement issued through the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce which said MG Motors North America plans to locate its headquarters in the city with assembly and distribution in Ardmore, about 100 miles south. The official announcement added that the US office would handle sales, marketing and distribution outside of Asia in North America, Europe and the UK.
As reported earlier, just-auto understands the coupe was designed under MG Rover’s previous owners but the firm went bust in April last year before it could be put into production.
While final details are yet to come, MG Motors plans initially to sell a full range of sports cars and sedans. The three sedans will be built at Nanjing’s main manufacturing facilities in China, giving it three final assembly sites worldwide.
Sources close to the company have told just-auto that all manufacturing will be done in China with the UK and US operations simply being assembly facilities. The company has been widely reported as having ‘lifted and shifted’ all production equipment worth having from Longbridge to China over the last year and the Chinese plant will be both a finished vehicle export base and a source of CKD kits for assembly elsewhere.
