MGs set to return to US highways

An MG TF Roadster. Herald file picture

It may not be long before MG sports cars are once again burning up the highways of the US after an absence of 26 years.

It comes after an announcement yesterday by the brand's new owners, the Nanjing Automobile Group of China, that it plans to begin building them at a new factory in Oklahoma.

The group, which purchased the assets of the bankrupt MG Rover Group from receivers in Britain last year, said at a ceremony in Oklahoma City the new factory, slated to begin production in 2008, would produce a coupe version of its planned new TF Roadster.

Nanjing, a relative upstart among the world's largest manufacturers, will be the first Chinese car company to make cars in the US.

But there was worry in Longbridge, where the former Rover plant remains shut.

Dave Osborne, the national secretary of the Transport & General Workers' Union, said there had been "no consultation" with Nanjing, voicing concern that the group may be shrinking its plans for resumed production at Longbridge.

However, Nanjing executives said they were committed to producing a different version of the TF Roadster in Longbridge promising to give further details of plans for production in the UK at the start of the London Motor Show on Monday.

Other models are to be built at plants in China.

Duke Hale, a former Mazda and Volvo executive, who will be CEO of the revived MG company, said: "Our position is to try to create a world-class car in a world-class company."

The Birmingham City Council leader, Mike Whitby, told the BBC he was encouraged by the news from Oklahoma, calling it an "exciting boost".

- INDEPENDENT