SAIC Readies MG6

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

China’s SAIC, which had bought Britain’s MG and Rover in a roundabout way, is expected to unveil a production version of the MG 6 at the upcoming 2009 Guangzhou auto show next week, Gasgoo writes.


The five-door MG6 was shown as a concept at the 2009 Shanghai auto show in April. Production versions, complete with fake British license plates, were intercepted in China during a photo shoot. The MG6 is the first new MG model to appear since MG was sold in 2005 to Nanjing Auto. Nanjing Auto was subsequently swallowed by SAIC.

The MG6 is the first of a range of new MG models. They are supposed to “restore the once highly regarded British marque to its former glory,” said SAIC president Chen Hong.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Colin42 Colin42 on Nov 20, 2009

    So does this assume a reintroduction to Europe (aka UK)? In which case lets wait for the Crash results, road tests & price. This will tell if it's a viable product or not.

  • Mpresley Mpresley on Nov 20, 2009

    Today, wandering through the parking lot, I came across an old MG Midge. It was difficult to tell the original paint color (probably a burgundy) and the interior had disintegrated badly. But it did bring back, at least for a moment, a sense of anachronistic nostalgia. At their best MGs were garbage cars (I know from first hand experience), yet they always had character and were certainly fun to drive. What is pictured above certainly does not possess the former, and it's doubtful the latter, either.

  • Tstag Tstag on Nov 20, 2009

    Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But with regards to crash testing/ safety then some of TTAC's ill informed readers might like to know that the car was designed in the UK by Ricardo. The car should get a 5 star NCAP Euro rating. For those other ill informed TTAC reader's who might choose to lambast the engine then you may like to know that it does not use the K series engine but a redesigned K series engine call the N series which shouldn't suffer from Headgasket issues that plagued the K series. The reason it shouldd'nt suffer from HGF is because it was redesigned by Lotus who cured the K series for the Elise. This promises to be a very good car and it's worth bearing in mind that the Roewe version of this car is on sale in Chile for only 7,000 GBP. So it's really cheap and crucially NOT designed in China.

  • Sinistermisterman Sinistermisterman on Nov 20, 2009

    An MG made and designed in the PRC? It's just not right. It's like when Jaguar made a diesel, or when Porsche made an SUV. It's just not right.

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