MGs roll again at Longbridge

More than two years after it closed its doors, MG Rover's Longbridge plant is about to produce its first cars under Chinese ownership. 

Three new MG TF sports cars built by Nanjing Automobile Corporation were shown off at the official reopening of the Birmingham factory today. 

These are the first cars to be assembled at Longbridge under its new ownership, but Nanjing says that production will be up to 3,000 cars in the first full year, and that there's capacity to make 15,000 cars every year. 

"We feel confident and resolute in restoring MG's former fame," said Nanjing chief exec Yu Jian Wei.

"MG has a glorious past and we are the inheritors of the brand." 

It's thought that 130 workers have been taken on to build the MG TF. But the number of employees could rise as high as 250 people by the end of the year, depending on sales success. 

However, it's still a far cry from the 6,000 workers who lost their jobs when Longbridge closed in April 2005.