MG releases first new model in 14 years
November 24, 2009 by Matt Brogan
The first new MG in 14 years has debuted on the opening day of the Guangzhou Auto Show in China with confirmation that it will be built in the UK.
The MG6 is a four-door hatchback designed primarily in the UK and shares many elements with Shanghai Auto’s (SAIC) Roewe 550 sedan.
SAIC President Chen Hong said production and sales will commence in China shortly before expanding to Longbridge, England within a year.
“SAIC plans to begin producing the MG6 in the UK by the end of 2010.”
The redesigned badge is symbolic of the rejuvenation of the Morris Garages name, and MG UK believes the launch of the new car marks:
“the start of one of the most exciting periods in the 85 year history of the iconic MG brand”.
The debut of the production-ready MG6 follows last week’s announcement that SAIC was establishing a design studio in the UK for both MG and Roewe (the reborn Rover).
The new facility will be home to 200 engineering and design staff and will become the chief studio operated by SAIC – China’s largest car producer.
A key focus of the design studio is set to be quality, with Roewe ranking ahead of all other brands in terms of customer satisfaction in China.
The studio will also be located at Longbridge, where the 14-year-old MG TF has been in an on-again off-again production cycle and is set to start up again early next year.
by Tim Beissmann
Print it: 
Looks good. Not sure about the head light and grill assembly. China is definitely taking over the automotive world.
How the hell is China taking over the car industry? This one will be built in UK. India exports more cars than China, the Tata Nano was developed there too.
In China, they just love to blatantly copy western cars, curve for curve! http://creativeadvertisingworl.....vs-byd-f6/
They have the economy to absorb as much as they can. Cheap manufacture and improving practices make them attractive hosts for car manufactures.
They are becoming the world factory for just about everything and anything.
Why not cars as well?
I would love to be able to buy an imitation Mercedes at a third of the price.
It’s a pleasant design. Arguably very good by MG standards.
It could have gained a greater road presence if the wheel arches could have allowed a larger OEM tyre. The small rolling radius makes it look tinnier than it should be. A buzz-box instead of WRX… but overall I like it.
It will be interesting to see what the sales and reliability figures turn out like.
Not sure if it’s just the angle of these shots but I’m very underwelmed by how genericly asian it looks
The Rover (or whatever it is now) is by far the better looker of the pair.
A key focus of the design studio is set to be quality, with Roewe ranking ahead of all other brands in terms of customer satisfaction in China.
Heh heh heh, Rover = Quality + Coustomer Satisfaction???
Wow, the world really is a changing place. I liked Rovers styling 15 years ago, but could see that Holden and Ford where building better quality cars $20,000 cheaper.
The brand is dead to me.
Looks like a Proton
Agreed, kinda Gen-2-ish
I agree too. British copying Malaysians. haha
I quite like it. My main problem is that it’s a British car that just doesn’t look British. I’m sure people can understand what I mean there. Even if a car is ugly, if it’s British, it usually looks it. Any Jaguar, Land Rover, pre-China Rover or MG, Mini, Rolls Royce, Bentley, etcetera – there’s something really quite british about all of them. This looks like it could be a Proton, especially when they’ve gone and showcased it with little wheels. They should have done just a few more upmarket tweeks on the exterior. It could also just be the colour because the almost identical concept was red and it looked much better.
For what it’s worth though, this shouldn’t be thought of as a Chinese car. I saw some more pictures on another website last night and it doesn’t seem to be ripping anything off and it looks to have a very nice interior for a car in this class. If it drives well, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it did, and they they weren’t stupid enough to price up with the 1 Series rather than down with the Focus, I think it’s quite worth it.
Also, it’s just nice to have something a bit different in the segment that has a reasonably good badge. Over all, a good effort. Especially considering that, as the title of the article says, it’s their first new model in fourteen years and they haven’t exactly had an easy fourteen years.
Agreed, check out pics in a silver, and it looks much, much better!
It’s a Great Britain Corolla/Daewoo/Kia-mobile. The likely quality of manufacturing means it will never sell outside the UK, but I guess it’s a locally built econo-car option for the local buyers there. They can hang a union jack flag on it somewhere. A quality reborn MGB would be great, but not realistic for competing with the Mazda MX5. This is so uninteresting I’m ashamed to be commenting on it.
Better photos(CG)
http://www.icars.sg/2009/4198/.....-shanghai/
Too right! Thats changed my mind all together..
Okay this is weird, The orange car front design looks like VW scirocco or golf while the CG presented car front design looks like VW passat or jetta. Chinese cars are just lame to me…chinese cars just don’t have that credibility that other manufacturers have.
But this isn’t a Chinese car. It was designed in Britain, it will be built in Britain and the Roewe 550 platform was also designed in Britain before the Chinese had anything to do with them.
Don’t discount it just because there’s a tie with China. If it’s a good car then it’s a good car. Of course it might not be a good car, but that’s still to be seen.
I also suggest you look at the pictures on the website that Gary posted above. The pictures make it look much hotter.
Okay this is weird, The orange car front design looks like VW scirocco or golf while the CG presented car front design looks like VW passat or jetta. Chinese cars are just lame to me…chinese cars just don\’t have that credibility that other manufacturers have.
Lol, what a joke.
Sacrilege – I can see the old guard shaving off their beards and burning their tweed jackets. It’s not an MG – just the bastard child of globalism and the almighty quest for profit.
You say “It’s not an MG”. Well neither were just about any of the cars that were badged as such from about 1999-2005.
Foul! say no more. If the UK thinks it can get back into industry with this then won’t help its chances at all. 1/10 must do better.
This isn’t the first new MG in 14 years, it’s actually less than 10!
The MG ZT was produced from 2001-2005