About the MG brand

General Information

MG (Morris Garages) was originally a British company that mass-produced passenger and sports cars. MG became most famous for producing one of the first two-seater open sports cars. The main factory was located in Abingdon. However, in the autumn of 1980, the plant was closed, and car production was halted for two years. From 1990 to 2000, MG belonged to the BMW Group. In 2005, the MG Rover Group came under the management of the Nanjing Automobile Group, which purchased it. Nanjing resumed production of MG sports cars in 2007.

Company History

By 1910, William Morris owned the largest car dealership in Oxford, called "Morris Garage." In 1923, Cecil Kimber, a manager at Morris, organized the production of sports cars under the MG brand. Built on the chassis of the Morris Minor, whose engine had a single overhead camshaft, MG cars earned a reputation as modest, agile sports cars. The company's production models allowed it to take a leading position on the international sports scene.
On May 1, 1924, the MG trademark was registered in the Octagon. In 1927, the brand's most famous car, the MG Midget, a two-seater roadster, was born, which later became a source of inspiration for designers of the modern TF roadster.
In the 1950s, MG became part of the British Motor Corporation. The company's heyday began in the late 1950s with the arrival of engineer Alec Issigonis, who created the front suspension for a new model that literally saved the company, the MG Y-type. Successful roadsters began to appear, such as the MGA, MGB, MGC, MGB GT, and, of course, a new generation of the Midget.
In 1968, the British Motor Corporation included brands such as Rover, Jaguar, and Triumph, forming the British Leyland Corporation. Shortly after this event, MG funding was cut, and after the company was nationalized, the plant was disbanded.
However, in 1982, the management of British Leyland decided to start producing small cars under the MG brand. Thus, the logo appeared on small cars like the Metro, Maestro, and Montego, and a prototype of the compact electric car Impact was presented.
In 2000, BMW merged its British assets—MG and Rover—into a single MG Rover Group.
In 2005, MG was acquired by the Chinese company Nanjing Automobile, which began producing previous MG models with slight modernization. Car production was moved to the company's plant in Nanjing.
A new impetus for MG's development came in 2007 when it became part of SAIC Motor Corporation, where the brand gained a new lease on life. Significant capital has been invested in the development of manufactured cars, high-tech equipment is used, and development engineers from the English company MG Rover are involved. The engineering bureau in British Leamington was fully purchased from Ricardo and renamed SAIC Motor UK Technical Centre.