Longbridge making cars again
The first cars have rolled off the production line at Longbridge since MG Rover's £1.6 billion collapse two years ago. The first cars have rolled off the production line at Longbridge since MG Rover's £1.6 billion collapse two years ago. Around 6,000 people lost their jobs when the site was shut down after MG Rover went into administration. It was bought for £53 million by Chinese car maker Nanjing Automobile Group, which plans to restart production of the iconic MG TF sports car this spring. A series of more than 40 test vehicles are due to be made as production warms up over the coming weeks. The first two cars were completed yesterday. Nanjing says it plans to make up to 12,000 TF sports cars a year, increasing the workforce at its factory on part of the former Rover site from 110 at present to around 250. Speaking in China, Nanjing MG Motor public affairs director Lv Qiang revealed: "Production in England will begin in April or May." Read the full story in the Express & Star
The first cars have rolled off the production line at Longbridge since MG Rover's £1.6 billion collapse two years ago.
Around 6,000 people lost their jobs when the site was shut down after MG Rover went into administration. It was bought for £53 million by Chinese car maker Nanjing Automobile Group, which plans to restart production of the iconic MG TF sports car this spring.
A series of more than 40 test vehicles are due to be made as production warms up over the coming weeks. The first two cars were completed yesterday.
Nanjing says it plans to make up to 12,000 TF sports cars a year, increasing the workforce at its factory on part of the former Rover site from 110 at present to around 250. Speaking in China, Nanjing MG Motor public affairs director Lv Qiang revealed: "Production in England will begin in April or May."
Nanjing shipped some MG production lines to China, where the first cars using MG technology are expected to be ready by late-March, Lv said.
Nanjing Auto said last year it would build China's first car plant in the United States - a facility in Oklahoma offering a full range of MG sports cars and sedans, including the TF Roadster and TF Coupe.
"We don't have a timetable for US production," said Nanjing managing director Yu Jianwei.
The company will make four models in China, including a long wheelbase version of the Rover 75 called the MG 7, and the right-hand drive MG TF sports car at Longbridge.
The TF is a remodelled version of the original MG sports car and could go on sale as early as this summer.
As part of the preparations for restarting production Nanjing has struck fresh deals with many original MG suppliers, with Shropshire-based body pressings maker Stadco moving part of its welding shop onto the Longbridge site.
Nanjing is talking about initial production of around 3,000 vehicles in the first year, rising to 8,000 in the second year, up to 12,000 by 2009, depending on demand.
