MG Cars got its name from Morris Garages, which began producing
its own customised versions to the designs of Cecil Kimber who
had joined the company as its Sales Manager in 1921 and was promoted
to General Manager in 1922.
There is some quesstion as to when MG began. Some state it
to be 1924, although the first cars bore both Morris and MG badges
and a reference to MG with the octagon badge appeared in an Oxford
newspaper in November 1923. Others believe that MG only properly
began trading in 1925.
The first cars, which were rebodied Morris models, used coachwork
from Carbodies of Coventry and were built in Alfred Lane, Oxford.
In 1928 the company had become large enough to separate from
the original Morris Garages and the MG Car Company Limited was
established.
Space again ran out and a new home was established in part
of an old leather factory in Abingdon, Oxfordshire in 1929, gradually
taking over more space until production ended there in 1980.
MG was absorbed into the British Motor Corporation. BMC merged
with Jaguar Cars in 1966 to form British Motor Holdings, which
in turn merged with the Leyland Motor Corporation in 1968 to form
the British Leyland Motor Corporation.
Following partial nationalisation in 1975 BLMC became British
Leyland. The Abingdon factory was shut down as part of the programme
of cutbacks necessary to turn BL around after the difficult times
of the 1970s. Though many plants were closed, none created such
an uproar among workers, dealers, clubs and customers as this
closure did.
After BL became the Rover Group in 1986, ownership of the
MG marque passed to British Aerospace in 1988 and then in 1994
to BMW. BMW sold the business in 2000 and the MG marque passed
to the MG Rover Group based in Longbridge, Birmingham. The Group
went into receivership in 2005 and car production was suspended
on 7 April 2005.
In July 2005, the Nanjing Automobile Group purchased the rights
to the MG brand and the assets of the MG Rover Group for £53
million creating a new company NAC MG UK Limited. Nanjing restarted
production of the MG TF and ZT ranges in early 2007. The TF and
the ZT (renamed the MG 7) are assembled in Pukou, Jiangsu Province
in China. The MG 3, a rebadged Rover Streetwise, also entered
production at Pukou.
In 2006 Nanjing announced the development of a TF sports coupé.
In 2007, merged with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation.
The MG range was relaunched in the United Kingdom during 2008,
with an updated limited edition of the TF built at Longbridge
by NAC MG UK, called the TF LE500. Production of the TF at Longbridge
was suspended again in October 2009.
In January 2009, NAC MG UK was renamed MG Motor UK Limited.
The MG 6 hatchback variant of the Roewe 550 was announced
in April 2009. It is expected that this model will be assembled
both in China, starting in 2010, and at Longbridge, in 2011.
Car models
The earliest model, the 1924 MG 14/28 consisted of a new
sporting body on a Morris Oxford chassis. The first car which
can be described as a new MG, rather than a modified Morris was
the MG 18/80 of 1928 which had a purpose designed chassis and
the first appearance of the traditional vertical MG grille. A
smaller car was launched in 1929 with the first of a long line
of Midgets starting with the M-Type based on a 1928 Morris Minor
chassis. Beginning before and continuing after World War II, MG
produced a line of cars known as the T-Series Midgets. These included
the MG TC, MG TD, and MG TF, all of which were based on the pre-war
MG TB.
MG departed from its earlier line of Y-Type saloons and pre-war
designs and released the MGA in 1955.
The MGB was released in 1962 to satisfy demand for a more
modern and comfortable sports car and continued in production
until 1980.
In 1965 this was followed by the MGB GT.
Between 1967 and 1969 a short-lived model called the MGC was
released. The MGC was based on the MGB body, but with a larger
six-cylinder engine.
MG began producing the MG Midget in 1961. The Midget was a
re-badged and slightly restyled second-generation Austin-Healey
Sprite.
The 1974 MGB was the last model made with chrome bumpers due
to new United States safety regulations and now had thick black
rubber bumpers.
As with the MGB, the Midget design was frequently modified
until 1980 when the last of the range was made.
The MG badge lived on after 1980 under BL, being used on a
number of Austin saloons including the Metro, Maestro, and Montego.
The Rover Group revived the two-seater with the MG RV8 in
1992.
The all-new MGF went on sale in 1995, becoming the first mass-produced
"real" MG sports car since the MGB ceased production
in 1980.
The MG range was expanded in the summer of 2001 with the
introduction of three Rover-based sports models. The MG ZR was
based on the Rover 25, the MG ZS on the Rover 45, and the MG ZT/ZT-T
on the Rover 75.
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