Industry News
First cars roll off line at new Nanjing MG plant
28th March 2007
Celebrations yesterday to mark the first car, one of three MG models launched by NAC MG, roll off the line, attracted leaders from the JiangSu provincial government, NanJing’s Chinese Communist Party committee and the NanJing municipal government, while British VIPs including an MP were due to attend the launch, among nearly 1,000 other visitors.
Nanjing Automobile said its Chinese-built, fully-automated welding and assembly line permits the simultaneous production of multiple models, incorporating equipment brought over from Longbridge.
The new MG models launched this month include an MG7 saloon series and the MG TF sports car. The MG7 is expected to appeal to China’s 'middle and high-end' market sectors.
NAC-MG chairman Jian Wei Yu confirmed that the UK will be the company’s centre for R&D, and also the location for the production of ‘high-end, value-adding’ products, while China will be the company’s main production centre, and responsible for developing domestic and overseas markets.
No mention was made in NAC’s news release of CKD MG assembly in the U.S.A., where Duke Hales, the CEO of the MG brand’s prospective importer, recently resigned.
Since NAC’s acquisition of the assets of MG Rover and Powertrain in July 2005, NAC MG has already exported a first batch of parts to Europe, and started production of the first N4 engine as well as the first MG7 and MG TF cars. NAC MG says it has also been the first Chinese car manufacturer to introduce European environmental standards, and the first to simultaneously establish production bases domestically and overseas.
A Nanjing Automobile Corp. spokesman has said today that around 80 dealers in Britain have expressed interest in franchises for the reborn MG brand, reports www.autowired.co.uk.
News Headlines
