Longbridge’s Chinese owners have taken the wraps off a new saloon car as the rebirth of the Birmingham car factory goes into overdrive.
Shanghai Automotive-owned MG Motor UK has unveiled a new five-seater MG6 saloon, priced from £17,000 to £20,000.
It will go on sale in the UK in July.
The saloon version will be the second volume car produced at Longbridge as full manufacturing finally gets under way again at the factory for the first time in six years.
Pre-production work on the MG6 sports hatchback, Longbridge’s first all-new MG for 15 years, is already under way in advance of a full launch in the spring.
Full production targets for the saloon have not been released but the car firm is looking to produce several thousand vehicles when the assembly lines are up and running.
A total of 39 UK dealers are already in place while MG Motor UK has also unveiled a new badge and logo in line with the new production plans.
Guy Jones, marketing director, said: “We have been building a little part of a new global automotive business here in Birmingham. We have the backing of the largest manufacturer in the world’s largest market.”
He said SAIC had already pumped in £45 million worth of capital investment into Longbridge, along with hundreds of millions of pounds in new product development.
“The strategy at MG can be summed up in one word and that is quality. Part of the magic of MG is the great love people have for the brand.”
The firm’s PR manager, Doug Wallace, said: “These are pre-production cars but its pretty much the finished article.”
The launch of two new vehicles will mark the restart of car production at Longbridge for the first time since MG Rover closed in 2005 with the loss of 6,500 jobs. Nanjing bought the assets of MG Rover for £53 million in July 2005 and were later taken over by the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation.
