China’s Nanjing Automobile, owner of the British car brand MG Rover, wants to build a new version of the [Rover 75-based] MG ZT sedan in England within the next two years.
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Nanjing vice president Lu Zhenxin told Automotive News Europe (ANE) that the automaker will build the ZT alongside the TF roadster in MG Rover’s former factory in Longbridge, on the outskirts of Birmingham in central England.
Last July, Nanjing announced that it will begin producing the TF in Longbridge starting in 2007. But the automaker did not talk about its plans for the ZT.
TF assembly will start “within a year” in Longbridge and the ZT will follow “half to one year later,” Lu told ANE. The TF would be launched first in the UK and be sold through existing MG Rover dealers.
For other markets in Europe, including Italy, Spain and France, MG will sell through importers [as MG Rover did previously in smaller European markets].
Lu said the ZT initially will be powered by a petrol engine, but a diesel engine will be added later.
Nanjing bought MG Rover for GBP54m (about EUR79m) in July 2005, three months after the British car maker collapsed due to financial problems.
