MG, NAC and SAIC EXPLAINED

From the day William Morris started building bicycles at Oxford in the early 1890's, to the launch of the latest MG; the TF LE500, the MG brand has been in a constant state of growth, development and improvement. Since its first day as Morris Garages, MG has grown under the stewardship of some of the most well known, popular and exotic names in British and world motoring.
Successive owners have benefited MG in different ways and all have proposed their vision for its future. However, one thing each guardian of the MG name had in common was the need to retain the essential Britishness of the company, its values and the cars that it produced.

The British factor is just as important as it ever was for MG’s latest owners, the Nanjing Automobile Company (NAC), and their parent company, the Shanghai Automobile Industry Corporation (SAIC). To understand the level of backing that the MG brand, through MG UK Ltd, now enjoys it may be worth reflecting on a few facts, figures and details of the family tree that MG is now part of.
Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. Group (SAIC) is a Fortune Global 500 company and is one of the top three largest automotive groups in China. Its core business is the manufacture and marketing of passenger cars, commercial vehicles and a huge range of automotive components. SAIC is also involved in car leasing, auto parts wholesale and retail, and automotive financing.

In December 2007, SAIC merged with, and became the parent company of NAC, the oldest motor manufacturing firm in China. So the new company MG Ltd can now be said to be backed by one of the oldest and largest motor groups in the most rapidly growing sector of the world motor market.

SAIC has shown impressive growth, in the years up to 2005 selling around 1.05 million vehicles annually, of which more than 740,000 are passenger cars. In 2008, it is predicted that SAIC will manufacture in excess of 2.7 million vehicles. SAIC produces its own brand of saloon car under the Roewe badge, has a 51% stake in Ssangyong Motors and joint ventures with GM and VW.

In the UK, as well as being the parent company of NAC, SAIC is also the parent company of the Shanghai Motor Technical Centre; SMTC UK Limited, based at Leamington Spa in the West Midlands. SMTC UK currently employees approximately 120 engineers and designers, with a further 150 contractors, and provides engineering and design skills for MG and the Chinese brand, Roewe.

So as MG moves forward in the care of SAIC and NAC, it will continue to produce cars that are designed and built in the UK but that benefit from the R&D, production and component manufacture muscle of one of the largest motor corporations in the world.