Actually, in Germany, the Saturn is called the Opel.

 

When the Pacer ("Meet George Jetson" ) flopped, the claim was they'd simply designed it ahead of its time. Maybe it is time for the Pacer as well as the Gremlin.

 

I forgot that Toyota brought back the FJ Cruiser. The first time I saw it at the Dealership I thought they had forgotten to remove the protective white vinyl from the roof. All it needs now is white bonnet stripes.

 

Here's a bit of the article about my favourite marque.

"DETROIT, July 11 — Can the mystique of a British sports car be recreated by a Chinese company in America’s heartland?

Following in Japan's Tracks That’s the bet by Nanjing Automobile Group, which plans to resurrect the fabled MG marque in a tricontinental demonstration of how truly global the automotive industry has become.

Nanjing, which purchased the assets of the bankrupt MG Rover Group last year, aims to be the first Chinese carmaker to open a factory in the United States. The company has scheduled a news conference for Wednesday in Oklahoma to announce plans to build a newly designed MG TF Coupe there, starting in 2008. It said the coupe would compete with cars like the Mazda Miata, which sells for $20,000 to $25,000.

It also will assemble a convertible TF Roadster version at MG’s now-shuttered factory in Longbridge, England, and three sedan models in China. American and European operations for MG Motors will be based in Oklahoma City, 90 miles north of the new factory in Ardmore, Okla.

MG’s rebirth under Nanjing, which said it had $2 billion in financing for the endeavor, comes as several Chinese companies are setting their sights on the United States, the world’s largest car market.

Several Chinese carmakers have said they are two to three years away from exporting vehicles to the United States. One, Geely Automobile, displayed a $10,000 sedan at this year’s Detroit auto show, although the car fell short of American safety and emissions standards.

Geely and Chery Automobile, a state-owned company that has sparred with General Motors over the similarity of its name to the Chevy nickname for the Chevrolet brand, plan to sell cars in the United States in 2008. Only Nanjing, however, has said it intends to build vehicles outside China, where it will face higher labor costs than in its home country.

“We want to be a global company,’’ said Duke T. Hale, a former executive at Mazda, Isuzu and Lotus who will be chief executive of MG Motors. “We don’t want to be a company that simply exports out of China. We don’t want to be seen as just another Chinese car company.’’

Nanjing also is unique among the Chinese car companies in its plan to revive an established brand with a Western following. Mr. Hale called that a critical advantage the company held over its Chinese rivals. “I’ve got a brand name that still resonates,’’ he said.

The company says its lineup will be true to MG’s heritage, to the delight of enthusiasts such as Roger Parker, a technical consultant with the MG Owners’ Club.

The club, run out of a large MG parts shop near Cambridge, England, has about 40,000 members worldwide. Many live in the United States, despite the brand’s 26-year absence here.

“If they don’t get the product right, they will certainly do damage that will be difficult to recover from,” said Mr. Parker, whom Nanjing officials consulted about their plans. “It’s clear that they are very committed and very conscious of the rich history that they have bought.”

MG’s limited appeal will ensure that Nanjing remains merely a niche player here.

But construction of the first Chinese auto plant in the United States, which will create more than 500 jobs, carries a great deal of symbolism about the industry’s future.

“It wasn’t very long ago that nobody believed the Japanese would build plants in the United States,” said David E. Davis Jr., who co-founded Automobile magazine and now runs an online publication for car lovers called Winding Road. After Lee A. Iacocca, the brash chairman of Chrysler, challenged them to do so, Mr. Davis added, “they did, and they blew everyone’s pants off.”

MG, originally called Morris Garages, began selling cars in the 1920’s. Its iconic TC convertible was a big hit in the United States after servicemen grew attached to earlier MG models in Europe during World War II.

“MG was really an integral part of the foreign car revolution that started in the late 40’s and early 50’s,” Mr. Davis said. “They weren’t terribly good cars, but they were so different and they were so much fun to drive that we all forgave them for their lack of reliability and fragility.”

The brand withdrew from the American market in 1980, leaving a generation of enthusiasts longing for its return. Sales continued in other countries as ownership passed through several hands, including Honda and BMW, until production ceased in April 2005 and all 6,000 workers at the factory in England were let go.

“It’s the first sports car that I remember as a child,” said Paul Fucito, who grew up around the corner from an MG dealership in New Jersey and remembers its closing.

Mr. Fucito, 34, a spokesman for George Washington University, has never lost hope that he will one day own an MG, although the company’s bankruptcy last year raised doubts for him about the chances of that happening. He participates in several online forums devoted to the brand and fantasizes about a new MG, painted British racing green, with wire wheels and chrome accents.

“It’s been that dream car that I’ve always wanted,” he said.

Several automakers have capitalized on demand for nostalgic nameplates in recent years, including BMW with its modernized Mini Cooper. Chevrolet has been deluged with requests to bring back the Camaro after it unveiled a concept version in January.

Jeremy Anwyl, president of Edmunds.com, a Web site that gives consumers advice about buying cars, said MG had the potential to join the list of successfully resurrected marques, as long as Nanjing kept quality high and prices low. “It’s not just a question of slapping an MG brand on something and expecting it to be an automatic success,” he said.

Mr. Anwyl expects to see the new MG models sporting the brand’s distinct vertical grille and octagonal logo but without the flaws of earlier models.

“Hopefully some of the electrical problems you wouldn’t bring back,” he said. “If you really want to go for nostalgia, you put on a leaky roof.”


The New MG-TF Coupe

I can't wait. Maybe I'll move to Ardmore, OK.

go to www.kfor.com for the video of the Oklahoma press conference where Duke Hale announces MG's return!!

 

Judging by your screen name, which year and type of C do you have? I had a 1969 C roadster with OD, and a 1968 C-GT auto. Should have kept them, and sold the ex.

 

Right-O Gromit. I have a 1969 C roadster with O/D that I purchased in the UK back in 1998 (U.S. export originally); I also have a 1962 MGA roadster, and hope to have a 2008 MG TF sometime soon. I'm undecided as to a roadster or coupe on the 2008.

 

MGC -

I've been waiting for you to come into this thread. The article you posted is verbatim the same one I took parts of and posted earlier. Thanks for doing so.

I've been excited about the prospect of the roadster made at the old plant. Sorry to others for being a broken record, but I don't think the prototype in your pic has the look of an MG of any model. Yeah, I know we are just dealing with early prototypes, but do you see things MG in the design that you like?

 

OT
The new MG is going to be built by a chinese automaker in Okalahoma! Now that should be an interesting ride! I had an MGB way back when... They better NOT start making Minis!!!!

 

threads merged

 

Ini,

The prototype coupe isn't too different than the production MGF/MGTF of 1995 - 2005.
Here's a pic of the F.



and here's a pic of the TF



The MGF was produced when BMW owned MG during the 1990s, but was never imported into North America because BMW had just launched its own American built roadster, the Z3. I have several friends who own MGFs from my years in Antwerp, Belgium. They are nice affordable mid-engined cars with complicated suspensions (hydrolastic in the F, reverted to coil springs in the TF), less than perfect convertible tops, but nice cars to drive at 6/10ths. Pity that MG while adopting VVC (Variable Valve timing, like Honda's VTEC or BMW's Vanos) never really turned the F into a tiger, leaving it up to Lotus to take the Rover K engine from the F, deposit it into a proper mid-engined chassis and cause the world to take notice with a sexy little number called the Elise (we now have Elise IIs, with different cosmetics and Toyota engines). Still, I kind of like the coupe, and can't wait to buy a new MG here in the States.

p.s. MG Rover sold MGs including the MGTF in Mexico, (Monterrey NL being the closest dealership) up until the company went bankrupt last spring. Our neighbors to the south could probably still find a new MG TF on some dealer's lot.

 

Thanks for posting that pic. I see more resemblance, though I prefer the headlights and grill (or lack therof) on the top one. The proto still looks more Japanese than MG but it is just a prototype. Of course, there's nothing wrong with a car looking Japanese. Whatever the body design it will be interesting to learn more about what's underneath.

I had lunch with a Triumph "enthusiast" (to use the Brit term) today. He, of course, wishes they were coming back. Also, he thinks the reason cars are so often shown in silver is because that's the most popular color. Say it ain't so! has the world gone that gray on us*???

Of course silver works on MINIs - no harh pm-s please.

 

Fifth Gear, the British TV show, reviewed the MG recently, and it was all they could do to not "throw up". I have never heard such a bad review. This was before China came into the picture. A British show bad mouthing a British car. Sounds bad.

 

Like MGCMan - we are also lovers of the MG. We've had many different years/models over the past 25 years and lived through many a Lucas Electrical issue and currently own a 58' MGA that we've had for 13 years or so. She's a beauty and has won us many awards over the years... Pix in The Gallery if interested...

When we lived back East, we attended yearly, British Car day in Middleburg, VA. One year the British Ambassador was there with his MGF. I think Mike and I both left drewl all over it - LOL!!!

I hate to say it, but if it does come to the states, Mike will say bye bye to his MINI (no flames... )

Donna

 

I've gone back a couple of times and studied the pics MGC posted of the F and the new prototype. My conclusion is that it's the elongated headlights and, generally honking big front nose of the proto I don't like. It is simply typical of so many cars currently on the road. My preference is that they wouldn't be followers like that. I like the F not just for the front, but it is much more rounded while the new proto has a bit of a clonish jagged body. Just my opinion.

I've never owned an MG, but a friend with an MGB sometimes let me take it out. Also, a woman I was dating stored her Midget in my garage and encouraged me to drive it rather than let it sit (good for both of us). Egads, I could barely get into it and a good runner could have beat me on an uphill. I'm told they were considered a woman's "sports" car. were I a woman I'd be offended.

 

They need to produce something that will go head to head with the Miata, S2000, and Z3. Otherwise they'll never succeed. They must start with an MG that those who actually remember MG's will recognize as something "MGish."

 

What gromit said.

I confess to being embarrassed. I found the British MG site. I had no idea they had made station wagons etc. when I was berating the "Chinese" concept. I'll still stick to the roadster if they are good cars though.

 

New article on the Chinese MG on boston.com. Apparently they are marketing it as Ming Jue, which means "modern gentleman."



Apparently Lotus is involved in the project, according to this July '06 blurb that I found.

A year from now they'll begin to be produced in the US!

 

This, dear friends is an MG

 

A well loved Brittish marque being brought back by a company based in a country where Buick's are the top selling cars and plan to build them in an old GM plant in Oklahoma. Wow, anyone have a score card so I can keep up!:impatient

I think it's a smart move on Mr Hale's part to have assembly outside of China as that will help overcome the "made in China" hurtle. I wonder if the rest of the managment is western and the Chinese are just funding it all?

One only has to look at how far the(South) Korean's have come in such a short time to see the potential of a powerhouse like China. I am perplexed at why the Korean's seen to copy existing designs rather than come up with more original ideas. A lot of the Korean cars almost seem like the auto version of designer clothing knockoffs-often combining several existing designs in a single car. I think the most original Korean car I've seen is the Tiburon but even that has a lot of Toyota celica in it.

 

Agreed. The Hyundai Sonata is such a blatant ripoff of the Honda Accord (it rips off different generations of Accord for the front and rear ends) that I'm honestly surprised that Honda didn't squawk about it.

 

I can't remeber the name but Kia released a near identical copy of the Lexus RX300 right after they(Lexus) came out with the RX330 and the front end of the Kia Amanti's front end has a whole buch of Mercedes E320 and the back end is very Bently inspired.

 

I have nothing good to say about China. Nor this regurgitated in-name-only car.

 

I didn't think it could get worse than the Beetle. The Engine is in the front thats just blasphemy. Now the Chinese want to make an MG. The original MG may not have been the most reliable car but it had style and was fun to drive. I believe you have to have an understanding of that before you can build cars that reflect such qualities. There should be a set of rules for companys bringing back old cars. Maybe if there were we would'nt have a 4 door Charger running around

Just my 2 cents.

 

The Chinese MG will never sell in the US. The marque has been away from here too long, and for those of us who knew it, if it's not British, it's not MG.

 

I don't trust/like anything brought or built here by an asian car company. I think it is a travesty that they are going to be trying to make "MG's" again. My grandfather who lived in London during the Blitz has an issue with German cars even more than I have an issue with asian cars. He was dissapointed when I chose to get a MINI because of BMWs involvement in the car. I told him very plainly that I would rather have a German fronted 'British' car than an asian fronted 'British' car. He is warming up to the MINIs so I guess I made my point! Point being, I think that the car will fall flat on it's face on this country...or at least I can hope it will.

Nothing against asian people, I just don't like thier cars...or thier food. bleh.

~ Derek