History of the development of MG (Part II)： When you came to China to separate, which car was MG？

As we all know today, the incarnations of MG and ROVER both belong to SAIC, but in fact, before they came to China, at least four companies offered olive branches: Brilliance, Geely, Nanjing Automobile and SAIC.

Let’s talk about Brilliance first. As early as 2001, Brilliance, headed by the legendary Yang Rong, was studying joint ventures. Before hooking up with BMW, Brilliance chose Rover with mature technology and production lines.

At the beginning, the talks between the two companies went smoothly. At the end of the year, a consensus was reached that a Brilliance-Rover taxi similar to a London taxi should be produced, and other models should be introduced into production. It seemed that an agreement was about to be signed. In early 2002, an accident happened to Brilliance and Yangrong left the United States, and the joint venture was so yellow.

Those who contact Rover with Brilliance’s front and back feet are Geely. Li Shufu showed his desire for ocean horses with mature technology very early, and saw Rover face bankruptcy, and his hands itched again. But unlike Brilliance, Lao Li contacted the Phoenix Consortium, and seized the gap of Brilliance, and quickly put forward a very landing acquisition plan, all of which technology brands wanted. But rover became green tea again at this time and said to Lao Li, don’t do this, brother. I already have a boyfriend. This boyfriend is Nanjing Auto.

Nanqi and Geely, a state-owned enterprise in Gao Fushuai, and a private enterprise, all know how to choose green tea from ancient times to the present, and the relationship between Rover and Nanqi is heating up rapidly.

But the problem is, it looks like a Nanqi in Gao Fushuai has no money, so it’s no problem to treat people to dinner. If you really talk about marriage, you have to borrow money. Who can you borrow it from? Saic. But I didn’t expect that this loan was bought by MG, and I also got in. Let’s talk about this tripartite entanglement slowly.

What is the state of SAIC at this time? Rich and willful, Santana and Passat, two hot-selling models, make SAIC’s cash nowhere to spend. In 2002, SAIC proposed to produce 50,000 self-owned brand cars before 2007, but in a word, SAIC was simply unable to engage in its own brand at this time, so Rover, whom it met through Nanqi, became a good choice. Rover also looks at SAIC, which is bigger than Nanqi, and the work is definitely good. Come on! Nanqi became a boiling sheep.

In 2004, SAIC and Rover signed a strategic cooperation agreement to invest 1 billion pounds, plus Rover’s platform, technology and factory to set up a joint venture company. At the same time, I watched Rover look like he was dying. In December, I quickly spent 67 million pounds to buy all the core assets of Rover except the Long Bridge factory. In 2005, it was even more chaotic. In February, the Finance Minister was sent to visit China personally to promote cooperation, and the joint stock ratio of 50% of SAIC, 20% of Nanqi and 30% of Rover was finalized. In April, Rover declared bankruptcy, and in July, SAIC went to the UK to buy the long bridge factory of MG, but it was unexpectedly intercepted by Nanqi, and 57 million pounds was bought for the MG brand and some factories and equipment. In March 2006, Nanqi MG brand was formally established, and MG also officially had a Chinese name: MG.

The part that was bought by SAIC became Roewe.

As mentioned earlier, the acquisition of Changqiao Factory by Nanqi is a tiger’s mouth, and SAIC is somewhat unhappy, but it is hard to say what all state-owned enterprises are. At the beginning of 2007, he also euphemistically said that he would develop his own brand with Nanqi, but in fact he wanted to swallow Nanqi. Later, SAIC simply stopped pretending and had a showdown, and directly talked about asset restructuring with Yuejin Group, the parent company of Nanqi. This talk has delayed the launch time of the model.

In August, 2007, the first batch of models of Nanjing Automobile MG rolled off the assembly line, including MG7, MG TF and so on. Therefore, the column of manufacturers on the first batch of MG7 is still written by Yuejin Group. As for this MG TF, it is reported that Rover didn’t want to sell MG TF models when he was at the bottom of the seller’s house, but his servants mistakenly packed and handed over the information of MG TF. Whether it is true or not, it is very similar to what Ying can do.

At the Guangzhou Auto Show in the same year, Nanqi MG bought six new cars in one breath, including the famous MG3 SW, Murong Yunhai’s dream car, cross-country and cross-border life in the city, and the rich second generation opened a mg, which once made everyone think that this is a more expensive brand. Later, it was only 100,000 yuan. I wonder if this gap has any impact on sales.

In 2007, on December 26th, the cooperation between SAIC and Yuejin Group was formally finalized. SAIC spent nearly 2.1 billion yuan to buy all the automobile business of Yuejin, and the passenger car cooperation between NAC and Fiat was terminated.

MG brand went to SAIC again, and had a meeting with ROVER’s spiritual sequel Roewe. The two shared resources, Roewe focused on elegance, and MG was biased towards sports. Subsequently, MG3 and MG6 were listed one after another, but the sales volume was always beaten by Roewe, and the sales volume for half a year was not as good as that of others for more than a month. Think about it, too. Cars that focus on sports have never been welcomed by ordinary people. What should I do? Go to sea!

In 2007, MG exported the first batch of 60 new cars to Chile. By the second generation of cars, such as MG ZS and MG HS, SAIC gradually understood the routine of overseas markets, and the brand was much more important than the product, especially MG, a century-old brand with a story. For example, many people abroad are still looking for MG’s old cars and calling them "drivable treasures".

So SAIC picked up the MGCarClub mentioned earlier, talked about brand culture overseas, and provided warranty time and service policies far exceeding those of other brands.

Since 2018, MG’s overseas sales have begun to explode. By 2022, SAIC-led MG has sold a total of 1 million vehicles overseas, and new energy vehicles represented by MG mulan have won a large market in Europe. Although it can only rank in a dozen or twenty positions in each market, it is only a matter of time before sales climb according to this momentum.

So look at the title again, which country is the MG? I would like to call it an international brand operated by a China enterprise with a broad mass base. It is no exaggeration to say that this has provided a brand-new model for our own brand to go to sea, so it doesn’t have much practical significance to entangle which country.

What do foreigners think? There are only three comments under the video of an Indian brother, but I think it is very representative. One said that MG’s factory is good, which is better than anything he has ever seen. One questioned whether MG is as reliable as Toyota. The last one said, Come on, this is a China company. Everyone should be able to imagine the tone behind it. It used to make people feel uncomfortable, but now it just makes people laugh. What can I say? Why don’t you go to heaven and tell Lafayette that the foreigner’s car has already arrived at your door!