About the History of Cars in China
When China’s Nanjing Auto bought the name and assets of the MG brand in 2005, the deal included the MG TF roadster and the IP for the MG TF GT coupe. Nanjing Auto eventually produced a few thousand TF’s in China, but sadly the TF GT didn’t fare so well.
Continue reading “Nanjing Auto Applied For Patent For The MG TF GT Coupe”
Last year I wrote wrote a story (updated with many new pics) about the murky times after Nanjing Auto bought the MG brand. It was unclear what Nanjing bought exactly. This uncertainty was mainly caused by Honda, which owned or co-owned several MG-Rover platforms and designs.
Early after the purchase Nanjing Auto showed several new MG’s. One of these cars was the MG5 sedan, which was unveiled on the 2009 Shanghai Auto Show. But there was another ‘Chinese’ MG5. A hatchback model was discovered by reader Max Xiao in Anting Motor City in Shanghai. Thank you very much for the pictures!
Continue reading “Nanjing Auto Made Another MG5 Concept Car”
In 2002 China Brilliance and MG Rover started talks about a joint venture to make the Rover 75 in China.
During the negotiations MG Rover shipped two dozen 75’s with Brilliance badges to China, with the aim of showing the Chinese side how a ‘Brilliance-Rover 75’ would look like. All these cars were powered by the 2.5 liter V6.
What MG Rover probably didn’t expect was that some of these cars were actually sold and ended up on Chinese roads with valid license plates. Most, but not all, of these cars were labelled as Zhonghua B8.
Back in 2002 MG Rover and Brilliance Auto started talking about a possible joint venture to make the Rover 75 in China. MG Rover build a few 75’s with Brilliance badging and shipped them over to Chinese shores to inspire their potential partners. Sadly the deal didn’t happen and eventually MG Rover was sold in parts to SAIC and Nanjing Auto.
Read the whole story of the MG Rover Brilliance Auto tie-up on AROnline, a brilliant website about British cars with a focus on Austin Rover.