MG ZS Mid-Size Cars

MG ZS 180

MG ZS Mid-Size Cars

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MG ZS 180

MG ZS Mid-Size Cars

The MG ZS (2001–2005) is a sporting family car. The ZS is essentially a badge engineered Rover 45 (which was launched in 1999). The 45 in turn is a facelifted version of the Rover 400 which was launched in hatchback form in 1995 and saloon form in 1996. The Rover 400 had much in common with the Honda Civic of 1995-1999. At the time of development, Honda and Rover worked in partnership to design and develop cars for the Japanese and European markets.

A Mid-Size Cars (occasionally referred to as an intermediate) is the North American/Australian standard for an automobile with a size equal to or greater than that of a compact. In Europe mid-sizers are often referred to as large family cars, or executive cars.

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Sports Sedan

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Sports Sedan

A Sports Sedan or a Sports Saloon is a descriptive term applied to a sedan automobile that is designed to look and feel "sporty", offering the motorist more connection with the driving experience, while providing the comfort and amenities expected of a luxury sedan. A wider definition that includes related coupé, convertibles, crossovers is known as sport luxury. Most vehicles in this category overlap with the compact executive car and executive car classifications, while the sporty small family sedans are called sport compacts (mostly used in North America).

History

The term was originally introduced in the 1930s and applied to lighter, more streamlined closed body coachwork fitted by car makers. Rover, for example, had Sports Saloon versions of several of their models.

It was later applied by manufacturers to special versions of their vehicles that allowed them to enter production cars in motor races with extra modifications not normally permitted by the regulations. Such regulations required cars to be homologated typically by selling them in minimum numbers to the public. Some of the earlier examples were the Alfa Romeo 1900, Triumph Dolomite and Lotus Cortina.

Traditionally Sports Sedans have a manual transmission and tachometer in order to provide that "sports look and feel" and are rear wheel drive, have good handling characteristics, and adequate power. Because of the US move to automatic transmission and front wheel drive these types are now also to be found in the Sport Sedan category. Recent Sport Sedans such as the latest iterations of the BMW M5 and BMW M3 had implemented semi-automatic transmissions.

Concept

The term "Sport Sedan" is not an absolute term, rather it is relative.

In North America, most luxury import sedans are often considered "Sport Sedans" because of their higher performance, handling, and expensive available amenities relative to that of mass market cars. There is some price overlapping, for instance as an entry-level BMW 328i has a similar (manufacturer's) suggested retail price to a Toyota Camry XLE V6.

The term "Sport Sedan" also came into being, when comparing luxury import sedans (i.e. BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz), which were smaller cars popular with young buyers that focused on performance and handling, to domestic luxury marques such as Cadillac and Lincoln, for older customers and which emphasized size and comfort. In the 1980s and 1990s, the change in consumer demographics towards smaller and sportier luxury cars, along with Japanese luxury brands, led to a decline in the prestige of domestic luxury marques, whose chief offerings were the Cadillac DeVille and Lincoln Town Car. However, since the 2000s, Cadillac and Lincoln have begun producing competitive models such as the Cadillac CTS and Lincoln LS. Buick was retained as General Motors's traditional luxury brand and emphasized comfort and amenities instead of driving experience.

Luxury performance sedans sold in North American have a smaller range of engines, tending towards the high-powered side, compared to their European lineups. For instance Mercedes-Benz advertises all of the 2009 US/Canadian models of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class as a "Sport Sedan", not just the high-performance C63 AMG. In Europe, however, where most of these marques are produced domestically, only the top-performing models are known as Sport Sedans.

In the midsize sedan category in North America, the 2008 Nissan Altima has been described as the sportiest in its classification, compared to the Honda Accord or Toyota Camry. The first-generation Mazda6 and Mazda3 were also known as Sport Sedans as well, when tested against other vehicles in their size class.

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MG Motor UK

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MG Motor UK

MG Motor UK is a company founded in the United Kingdom to assemble and sell Sports Car under the MG marque. It is based in Longbridge, Birmingham.

History

MG Motor UK Ltd was founded in 12 April 2006 as NAC MG UK Limited by the Nanjing Automobile Corporation (NAC). Following the collapse of MG Rover in 2005, NAC had acquired Rover's Longbridge plant, and the rights to use the MG marque.

Assembly of cars re-started at Longbridge in August 2008, with production of the MG TF LE500.

In 2007 NAC merged with the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), and in early 2009 NAC MG UK was renamed as MG Motor UK Limited.

Cars

The MG range was relaunched in Britain during 2008. An updated MG TF models produced in a limited edition of 500, called the TF LE500, was assembled at the Longbridge plant by NAC MG UK. This was followed by a TF 135 models and a further limited edition TF 85th Anniversary, of which only 50 were produced.

Production of the TF at Longbridge was suspended again in October 2009.

The MG 6 hatchback variant of the Roewe 550 was announced in April 2009. Already in production in China, it is expected that this model will be assembled at Longbridge from 2011.

Other models sold in China under the MG brand include:

* 3SW - a five door hatchback based on the Rover Streetwise
* 7 - four door sedan based on the Rover 75 and MG ZT models

The company also plan to launch a model called the MG Zero - a small hatchback similar in size to the earlier Rover 25/ZR and Austin Metro - which is based on a concept called the Roewe N1.

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Morris Motor Company

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Morris Motor Company

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Morris Motor Company

The Morris Motor Company was a British car manufacturing company. After the incorporation of the company into larger corporations, the Morris name remained in use as a marque until 1984 when British Leyland's Austin Rover Group decided to concentrate on the more popular Austin marque.

History

Early history

The Morris Motor Company was started in 1910 when bicycle manufacturer William Morris turned his attention to car manufacturing and began to plan a new light car. A factory was opened in 1913 in a former Oxford Military College at Cowley, Oxford, United Kingdom, and the company's first car, the 2-seat Morris Oxford "Bullnose" was introduced. Nearly all the major components were bought-in, with only final assembly being undertaken in the Morris works. In 1914 a coupé and van were added to the line-up but the chassis was too short and the 1018 cc engine too small to make a much-needed 4-seat version of the car. White and Poppe, who made the engine, wanted more money than Morris was prepared to pay for a larger version, so the company turned to Continental of Detroit, Michigan, United States for supplies of a 1548 cc unit. Gearboxes and axles were also sourced in the US. In spite of the outbreak of the First World War the orders were maintained and, from mid-1915 a new larger car, the 2-seat and 4-seat Morris Cowley was introduced.

Inter War years

After the war the Continental engine was no longer available, so Morris arranged for the French company Hotchkiss to make a near-copy in their Coventry factory. This was used to power new versions of the basic Cowley and more up-market Morris Oxford cars. With a reputation for producing high-quality cars and a policy of cutting prices, Morris Motor Company continued to grow and increase its share of the British market and, in 1924, overtook Ford to become the UK's biggest car manufacturer, holding a 51% share of the home market. They had a policy of buying up suppliers with, for example, Hotchkiss in Coventry becoming the Morris Engines branch in 1923. In 1924 the head of the Morris sales agency in Oxford, Cecil Kimber, started building sporting versions of Morris cars, called "MG" — after the agency, Morris Garages. The MG factory was in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

The small car market was entered in 1928, with the Morris Minor, using an 847 cc engine from the Wolseley Motor Company, a company which became part of Morris Motors Company in 1927. This helped the company through the economic depression of the time. The Minor was replaced at the 1934 London Motor Show by the Morris Eight, a direct response to the Ford Model Y and heavily based on it. In 1932 Morris appointed Leonard Lord as Managing Director and he swept through the works, updating the production methods and introducing a proper moving assembly line, but Morris and Lord fell out, and Lord left in 1936 — threatening to "take Cowley apart brick by brick". Also in 1936 William Morris sold Morris Commercial Cars Limited, his commercial vehicle enterprise, to Morris Motors. In 1938 William Morris became Viscount Nuffield, and the same year he merged the Morris Motor Company (incorporating Wolseley) and MG with newly acquired Riley to form a new company: the Nuffield Organisation.

In 1926 The Pressed Steel Company Limited was founded as a joint venture between William Morris, the Budd Corporation (of USA) and an American bank. Its factory was located over the road from the Morris factory at Cowley and supplied Morris and many other motor manufacturers.

Second World War

In the summer of 1938 the Nuffield Organisation agreed to build equip and manage a huge new factory at Castle Bromwich, which was built specifically to manufacture Supermarine Spitfires. After a major air raid damaged the Morris Bodies factory, the premises switched to the production of jerry cans, producing millions of these versatile containers for use during the rest of the war and following the ending of hostilities. The Cowley plant was turned over to aircraft repair and production of Tiger Moth pilot trainers, as well as "mine sinkers" based on a design produced at the same plant during the First World War.

Post World War II production

Production restarted after World War II, with the pre-war Eight and Ten designs. In 1948 the "Eight" was replaced by what is probably the most famous Morris car, the Morris Minor designed by Alec Issigonis (who later went on to design the Mini) and reusing the small car name from 1928. The "Ten" was replaced by a new 1948 Morris Oxford, styled like a larger version of the Minor. A later Morris Oxford (the 1956 Morris Oxford III) was the basis for the design of India's famous Hindustan Ambassador which continues in production to the present day.

BMC

In 1952, the Nuffield Organisation merged with its old rival the Austin Motor Company to form the British Motor Corporation (BMC). Nuffield brought the Morris, MG, Riley and Wolseley marques into the merger. Leonard Lord was in charge, which led to Austin's domination of the organisation. Badge-engineering was important to the new company and for many years the several marques would be seen on several families of similar vehicles.

British Leyland

In 1968, in further rationalisations of the British motor industry, BMC became part of the newly-formed British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC), and subsequently, in 1975, the nationalised British Leyland Limited (BL).

The Morris marque continued to be used until the early 1980s on cars such as the Morris Marina. The Morris Ital (essentially a facelifted Marina) was the last Morris-badged passenger car, with production ending in the summer of 1984. The last Morris of all was a van variant of the Austin Metro.

In the early 1980s, the former Morris plant at Cowley and its sister site the former Pressed Steel plant, were turned over to the production of Austin and Rover badged vehicles. They continued to be used by BL's Austin Rover Group and its successor the Rover Group, which was eventually bought by BMW, and then by a management consortium, leading to the creation of MG Rover. None of the former Morris buildings now exist, British Aerospace sold the site in 1992, it was than demolished and replaced with the Oxford Business Park. The adjacent former Pressed Steel Company site (now known as "Plant Oxford") is owned and operated by BMW, who use it to assemble the new MINI.

The rights to the Morris marque are currently owned by Nanjing Automobile (Group) Corporation.

The history of the company is commemorated in the Morris Motors Museum at the Oxford Bus Museum.

Post-Morris cars to have been built at Cowley include the Austin/MG Maestro, Austin/MG Montego, Rover 600, Rover 800 and (for a short time) the Rover 75.

Badge

The Morris badge shows an ox crossing a river — a reference to the company's home town, Oxford.

Car models (excludes light vans)

* 1913–1926 - Morris Oxford (Bullnose)
* 1915–1935 - Morris Cowley
* 1920–1929 - Morris Six
* 1926–1935 - Morris Oxford
* 1928–1932 - Morris Minor
* 1931–1933 - Morris Major
* 1929–1935 - Morris Isis
* 1933–1939 - Morris Twenty-One/Twenty-Five
* 1935–1939 - Morris Twelve
* 1935–1939 - Morris Fourteen
* 1935–1948 - Morris Eight
* 1933–1948 - Morris Ten
* 1948–1952 - Morris Minor MM
* 1952–1956 - Morris Minor
* 1955–1971 - Morris Minor 1000
* 1948–1954 - Morris Oxford MO
* 1948–1953 - Morris Six MS
* 1954–1971 - Morris Oxford II / III / IV / V / VI
* 1954–1959 - Morris Cowley
* 1955–1958 - Morris Isis
* 1957–1960 - Morris Marshal (BMC Australia)
* 1958–1964 - Morris Major (BMC Australia)
* 1959–1969 - Morris Mini Minor
* 1964–1968 - Morris Mini Moke (United Kingdom)
* 1966–1973 - Morris Mini Moke (Australia)
* 1962–1971 - Morris 1100
* 1967–1971 - Morris 1300
* 1969–1972 - Morris 1500 (Australia)
* 1966–1975 - Morris 1800
* 1972–1975 - Morris 2200
* 1969–1972 - Morris Nomad (Australia)
* 1971–1980 - Morris Marina
* 1980–1984 - Morris Ital

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Austin Rover Group

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Austin Rover Group

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Austin Rover Group

The Austin Rover Group (ARG) was a British motor manufacturer. It was formed in 1981 as the mass-market car manufacturing subsidiary of British Leyland (BL). ARG was the end result of a comprehensive restructuring programme intended to rescue BL from almost-certain oblivion, and with the Triumph, Morris, Riley and Wolseley marques now effectively dead, the new, leaner car business was rechristened as the Austin Rover Group and focused primarily on the Austin and Rover marques.

In 1989, ARG was rebranded as Rover Group, the name of its owner. In 2008, Tata Motors purchased the Rover marque, as well as former BL/Rover Group businesses, Land Rover and Jaguar Cars, and the former BL marques Daimler and Lanchester, from the Ford Motor Company. The Austin marque has been retired and the Mini marque is owned by BMW.

History

Following the collapse of the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC) in 1975 and the stark Ryder Report on the ailing firm, the resulting government bail-out and nationalisation saw the company being renamed to British Leyland (BL).

However, the huge industrial relations problems, ineffectual management and product duplication that had plagued the company up to the nationalisation continued throughout the late 1970s. The problems centred around Longbridge union leader and shop steward Derek Robinson (nicknamed "Red Robbo" by the British press). Robinson had assumed a greater level of control over BL than any of its senior managers, and his network of union leaders in the various BL plants had the power to end production if he had instructed them to do so.

The Labour government of the time ran out of patience with Robinson, and appointed South African-born corporate troubleshooter Sir Michael Edwardes to turn BL around.

His first task was to curb the excessive amount of power that the trade unions had over the company. After discovering Robinson's links with various communist groups, the company amassed sufficient evidence claiming that his actions were intended to deliberately damage both BL itself and the UK economy. As a result of this, he was dismissed in 1979. Secondly, Edwardes began a ruthless programme of factory closures and sell-offs. The biggest casualties of this were the MG assembly plant in Abingdon, and the Triumph plants in Speke and Canley. BL pulled out of entire markets - for example the large Leyland tractors range was sold off wholesale to Marshall. Thirdly, he entered into a collaborative agreement with Honda, which paved the way for the joint development of a range of cars which spearheaded the company's revival in the 1980s and 1990s. Lastly, the number of BL dealerships in the UK was trimmed down drastically.

The new, slimmer British Leyland was organised into a series of groups. Austin Rover handled the mass production of cars, with the lower- to mid-market cars being badged as Austins and the middle- to upper-market cars as Rovers. Light commercial vehicle production (4x4s and vans) was managed by the Land Rover Group, whilst full-size commercial vehicles were built by Leyland Trucks and Leyland Bus.

Sales of Austin Rover products were reasonably strong, though not quite as high as the sales achieved by some of the British Leyland products. The Austin/MG Metro was regularly among the top five selling cars in Britain throughout the 1980s, and in the early part of the decade it was the best selling supermini in the country. The Metro, which was launched in 1980, gave the firm a much-needed competitor in the entry-level hatchback market and filled a gap in the range vacated by a scaling down of Mini and Austin Allegro production.

The Austin/MG Maestro (launched in 1983), was initially very popular, but sales dipped towards the end of the decade and in 1989 it was the 19th best selling car new car in the UK. This was less of a problem thanks to the introduction of the similar-sized Rover 200 in 1984 — the product of a venture with Honda and one of the few strong-selling small family saloons of its era. So in effect, Austin Rover was selling around 100,000 cars of this size every year during the mid to late 1980s, regaining its share of the sector after the scaling-down of Austin Allegro production in its final years.

The Austin/MG Montego went on sale in 1984 and sold fairly well, though it was unable to match the sales success of the sector's established favourites — the Ford Sierra and Vauxhall Cavalier. The car had been in the pipeline since the late 1970s when the company's main competitors in this sector were the Morris Marina and Austin Maxi, but the Montego actually replaced the Morris Ital that had been launched in 1980 as an updated version of the Marina. The Maxi continued until 1982, when it was discontinued in preparation for the launch of the Maestro and Montego.

Austin Rover's executive car, the Rover 800, was launched in 1986 as the second product of its venture with Honda, being based on the Honda Legend. This car also sold well, being a popular competitor for the likes of the Ford Granada and Vauxhall Carlton. It was also sold in America under the Sterling brand, but this project was quickly shelved due to unacceptable product quality issues that led to low sales.

Austin Rover's decision not to replace sports cars like the MG MGB and Triumph TR7 was justified by the fact that such cars were no longer popular in the early 1980s, and many other manufacturers had also stopped - or were about to stop - production of such cars. Buyers were instead being guided to "hot hatchbacks", following a trend set by Volkswagen's Golf GTI in 1976. By 1985, Austin Rover had launched a line-up of performance variants of its Metro, Maestro and Montego hatchbacks. These cars all made use of a revived MG marque. They proved reasonably popular, though few enthusiasts regarded them as true MGs. The Rover Group continued production of these "badge engineered" models until 1991.

Following the renaming of its parent company, BL, in 1986 to the Rover Group, and the subsequent sell-off of its truck and bus businesses, and takeover in 1988 by British Aerospace, and then in 1994 by BMW, the combine now known as Rover Group was eventually sold back into private ownership and became MG Rover, which lasted five years before going bankrupt. MG production was revived in 2007 by new owner Nanjing Automobile, while the Rover marque was purchased by Ford in 2006, only to be transferred to ownership of Indian carmaker Tata in 2008, as Tata also took over Land Rover and Jaguar to form Jaguar Land Rover.

The Land Rover marque was removed from the combine at the time of the 2000 sell-off, becoming part of the Ford Motor Company, while BMW retained the rights to build the new MINI which was launched in 2001.

Austin Rover Group timeline

* 1981: BL Cars Ltd is renamed Austin Rover Group Ltd. Launch of the Triumph Acclaim, successor the Dolomite and restyled version of the Japanese-built Honda Ballade.
* 1982: Launch of Austin Ambassador, a facelifted version of the discontinued Princess.
* 1982: Michael Edwardes steps down as Chairman, and is replaced by Harold Musgrove. MG badge is relaunched, two years after being discontinued, on the MG Metro 1300.
* 1983: Launch of Austin Maestro, which replaces the 10-year-old Allegro. The MG badge is used for the MG Maestro 1600 sports model.
* 1984: Launch of the second Honda-ARG joint venture car, the Mk.1 Rover 200-series. It succeeds the Triumph Acclaim, and in doing so spells the end of the Triumph marque. The MG Maestro 1600 is shelved after one year on sale, and replaced by the more powerful MG Maestro 2.0 EFi.
* 1984: Launch of the Austin Montego as successor to the Morris Ital. This means the end of the Morris marque after 72 years. The MG Maestro 1600 is replaced by the MG Maestro 2.0 EFi, which has a fuel injected 2.0 unit in place of the previous 1.6 twin-carburettor.
* 1985: Production begins at Cowley of the Honda Ballade, which is visually identical to the Rover 200 but uses some of its own engines and has a higher level of specification. The MG version of the Montego goes on sale.
* 1986: Launch of the Rover 800-series, jointly developed with Honda and based on the Honda Legend; Rover SD1 production ceases after 10 years.
* 1986: BL renamed Rover Group PLC.
* 1987: Unipart, ARG's spare parts brand is sold off via management buyout.
* 1987: The Austin marque is shelved, with the Metro, Maestro and Montego ranges now selling under just their model names. The Rover badge is not used on these cars in the UK market.
* 1988: Rover Group PLC sold by British Government to British Aerospace.
* 1989: Austin Rover Group is re-branded Rover Group. Its final launch was the MG Maestro Turbo, powered by a 2.0 turbocharged engine and one of the fastest hatchbacks in the world with a top speed of nearly 130 mph (210 km/h).

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British Leyland ~ Timelines

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British Leyland ~ Timelines

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British Leyland ~ Timelines

Notes for the timeline table

* The car brands of BSA were divested, BSA was not merged into Jaguar.

* Mini was not originally a marque in its own right. See Mini and MINI (BMW) for more detail.

* The BMC trademark is registered (1564704, E1118348) to MG Rover Group in the UK. BMC is also the name of a commercial vehicle manufacturer in Turkey, formerly the Turkish subsidiary of the British Motor Corporation. It is believed that Nanjing Automotive may have purchased this from MG Rover, however the brand has not been re-assigned as of 17 July 2006.

* The Wolseley trademark is registered (UK 1490228) to MG Rover Group Ltd for automobiles only. It is believed that Nanjing Automotive may have purchased this from MG Rover, however the brand has not been -reassigned as of July 2006 to a different company. The UK building materials supplier Wolseley plc owns the rights to the Wolseley name for all other purposes. Wolseley plc is a descendant of the original Wolseley company.

* The Vanden Plas trademark is owned by Ford (through Jaguar) for use within the USA and Canada, and as (UK 1133528, E2654481) to MG Rover Group Ltd for use in the rest of the world. It is believed that Nanjing Automotive may have purchased this from MG Rover, however the trademark has not been recorded as reassigned as of 17 July 2006. This is why Jaguar XJ Vanden Plas models are branded as Daimlers in Britain. The last Rover to use the Vanden Plas name was the Rover 75 Vanden Plas, a long wheelbase limousine model.

* The Rover trademark was owned by BMW and was only licenced to MG Rover Group Ltd. BMW sold the brand to Ford in September 2006.

* Alvis was purchased from British Leyland by United Scientific Holdings plc in 1981, in 2002 Alvis merged with part of Vickers Defence Systems to form Alvis Vickers which was purchased by BAE Systems in 2004. BAE Systems did not acquire Alvis through their ownership of the Rover Group in the early 1990s. Production of Alvis branded cars ceased in 1967. The trademark is owned by Alvis Vehicles Ltd

* The use of the Triumph name as a trademark for vehicles is shared between BMW and Triumph Motorcycles Ltd. The former for automobiles and the latter for motorcycles. The motorcycle and car business separated in the 1930s.

Merged companies

The car firms (and car brands) which eventually merged to form the company are as follows.

The dates given are those of the first car of each name, but these are often debatable as each car may be several years in development.

* 1895 Wolseley Motor Company
* 1896 Lanchester Motor Company
* 1896 Leyland Motors Ltd (commercial vehicles)
* 1896 Daimler
* 1898 Riley
* 1903 Standard Motor Company
* 1904 Rover
* 1905 Austin
* 1912 Morris
* 1913 Vanden Plas
* 1919 Alvis
* 1923 MG created by Morris
* 1923 Triumph Motor Company
* 1924 BSA used as a car brand
* 1935 Jaguar
* 1947 Land Rover created by Rover
* 1952 Austin-Healey created by Austin division of BMC
* 1959 Mini : the car initially launched as the Austin Seven and Morris Mini-Minor became popularly known just as the 'Mini' and BMC recognised this by initially re-badging the Austin as the Austin Mini, and subsequently deleting both marque names from the car and effectively making Mini a marque name in its own right.

Other merger events

Several of these names (including Jaguar, Land Rover and Mini) are now in other hands. The history of the mergers and other key events is as follows:

* 1910 Daimler purchased by the armaments-and-motorbikes engineering company BSA
* 1931 Lanchester purchased by BSA (last Lanchester 1956)
* 1938 Morris incorporates Wolseley and Riley forming the Nuffield Organisation
* 1944 Standard acquire Triumph, forming Standard Triumph
* 1946 Austin acquire Vanden Plas
* 1952 The Nuffield Organisation and Austin merge to form the British Motor Corporation (BMC)
* 1955 Leyland Motors acquire Scammell Lorries Limited of Watford
* 1960 Jaguar buy the car-making interests of BSA, including Daimler
* 1961 Leyland Motors acquire Standard Triumph
* 1962 Leyland Motors acquired ACV, the renamed AEC (Associated Equipment Company) company.
* 1963 Jaguar acquire the engine and fork lift truck manufacturing company Coventry Climax
* 1965 Rover acquire Alvis
* 1966 BMC merge with Jaguar to form British Motor Holdings (BMH)
* 1967 Leyland absorb Rover
* 1968 Leyland merge with British Motor Holdings to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC)
* 1969 Joint venture with the National Bus Company to build Leyland National buses, and also to continue the manufacture of Bristol buses previously built by the NBC
* 1970s Majority stake in Danish partner DAB, to form Leyland-DAB, producer of the Leyland-DAB articulated bus
* 1972 BLMC take control of Innocenti
* 1974 Cessation of production of cars in Australia
* 1975 Publication of the Ryder Report, British Leyland effectively nationalised due to financial difficulties with new holding company formed British Leyland Ltd later BL plc with the government as the principal (but not the only) shareholder
* 1977 Michael Edwardes appointed as Chairman by Labour Government. Begins massive cull of excess BL assets.
* 1982 BL buys out the National Bus Company from the bus plant joint venture.

Divestments

* 1969 The last Riley Elf, 1300, and 4/72 models were built, thus ending the Riley marque
* 1975 Innocenti passed to Alejandro de Tomaso
* 1976 Final Wolseley, a 2200, is built, thus ending the Wolseley marque
* 1978 Land Rover separated from Rover to form a separate company, still part of BL
* 1979 Collaboration with Honda begins, sacking of Derek Robinson ("Red Robbo")
* 1978 Closure of Triumph assembly plant in Speke - production moved to Canley
* 1980 Closure of MG and Triumph assembly plants in Abingdon and Canley
* 1981 Closure of Rover-Triumph plant in Solihull
* 1981 Alvis sold to United Scientific Holdings and Alvis plc formed
* 1982 Michael Edwardes steps down as Chairman, BL Cars Ltd renamed Austin Rover Group (ARG)
* 1982 Leyland Tractors sold to Marshall Tractors, tractor production at Bathgate assembly plant ends
* 1983 Closure of Bristol bus plant, production transferred to Leyland National plant at Workington
* 1984 Morris Ital goes out of production, signalling the end of the Morris badge
* 1984 Jaguar floated off (including Daimler and the US rights to Vanden Plas); bought by Ford in 1989
* 1984 Final Triumph Acclaim rolls off the production line, ending the Triumph name
* 1985 Closure of Bathgate truck assembly plant
* 1986 BL plc renamed Rover Group, Austin badges disappear the following year
* 1986 Leyland Bus floated off; bought by Volvo in 1988
* 1987 Leyland Trucks division (including Freight Rover vans) merged with DAF to form DAF NV/Leyland DAF. Vans became independent as LDV in 1993, as did Trucks as Leyland Trucks. Leyland Trucks was taken over by US giant PACCAR in 1998 and integrated with Foden.
* 1987 Unipart, BL's spare parts division acquired by management buy-out
* 1988 Rover Group privatised; sold to British Aerospace
* 1994 Rover Group sold to BMW; collaboration with Honda ends
* 1994 Maestro and Montego go out of production.
* 1998 Metro/100-series goes out of production - the last of the former Austin models.
* 2000 BMW decides to break up and sell the Rover empire; Land Rover sold to Ford
* 2000 BMW MINI, Triumph, and Riley trademarks retained by BMW, but BMW's other interests sold off
* 2000 Remainder of company became independent as the MG Rover Group
* 2005 MG Rover goes into administration with huge debts, and is taken over by Nanjing Automobile.
* 2006 Ford acquires the rights to the Rover brand name from BMW, though without any immediate plans for using it on production cars.
* 2008 Ford completes the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors, of India.

List of notable BL and BMC and related models (up to 1986)

# 1948 Land Rover (Rover)
# 1948 Morris Minor (Nuffield)
# 1952 Rover 90 (Rover)
# 1952 Morris Oxford (BMC)
# 1954 Austin Cambridge (BMC)
# 1959 Triumph Herald (Standard-Triumph)
# 1959 Austin Gipsy (BMC)
# 1959 Mini (BMC; Initially badged as the Austin Se7en and Morris Mini-Minor)
# 1961 Jaguar E-type (Jaguar)
# 1961 Riley Elf (BMC)
# 1961 Wolseley Hornet (BMC)
# 1961 Austin Healey Sprite (BMC)
# 1961 MG Midget (BMC)
# 1962 Triumph Spitfire (Leyland-Triumph)
# 1962 Morris 1100 (BMC)
# 1962 MG MGB (BMC)
# 1963 Triumph 2000 (Leyland-Triumph)
# 1964 Mini Moke (BMC)
# 1964 Austin 1800/2200 (BMC)
# 1964 Rover 2000 (Rover)
# 1968 Jaguar XJ6 (BLMC)
# 1969 Austin Maxi (BLMC)
# 1970 Triumph Dolomite (BLMC)
# 1970 Triumph Toledo (BLMC)
# 1970 Range Rover (BLMC)
# 1971 Morris Marina (BLMC)
# 1971 Triumph Stag (BLMC)
# 1973 Austin Allegro (BLMC)
# 1975 Princess (BL)
# 1975 Triumph TR7 (BL)
# 1975 Jaguar XJS (BL)
# 1976–1987: Rover SD1 (BL)
# 1980–1990: Austin Metro (BL)
# 1980–1984: Morris Ital (BL)
# 1981 Triumph Acclaim (BL)
# 1982 Austin Ambassador (ARG)
# 1983 Austin Maestro (ARG)
# 1984 Austin Montego (ARG)
# 1984 Rover 200-series (ARG)
# 1986 Rover 800-series/Sterling (ARG)

Competing models

In some cases, British Leyland continued to produce competing models from the merged companies at different sites for many years. However, any benefits from the broader number of models were far outweighed by higher development costs and greatly reduced economies of scale.

Sadly, potential benefits associated with rationalising parts usage were lost, as for example, the company made two completely different 1.3 litre engines (BMC A series and the Triumph 1.3 litre), two different 1.5 litre engines (BMC E series and Triumph), four different 2 litre engines (4 cylinder O series, 4 cylinder Triumph Dolomite, 4 cylinder Rover and 6 cylinder Triumph) and two completely different V8 engines (Triumph OHC 3 litre V8 and Rover 3.5 litre V8).

Examples of competing cars were:

* Morris Minor and Austin A40/Austin 1100
* Austin 1300 and Triumph Herald/Triumph Toledo
* Morris Marina, Austin Allegro, and Triumph Dolomite
* Triumph 2000, Rover 2000, and Austin Princess
* Triumph Spitfire, MG Midget and Austin-Healey Sprite
* Triumph TR6/Triumph TR7 and MG MGB
* Rover 3500 and Jaguar XJ6.

Badge-engineered models

In contrast to the continued development of competing models, British Leyland continued the practice of badge engineering of models which had started under BMC; selling essentially the same vehicle under two (or more) different marques.

* Riley One-Point-Five/Wolseley 1500
* MG Magnette ZA/ZB/Wolseley 4/44
* MG Magnette ZB/Wolseley 15/50
* Morris Oxford MO/Wolseley 4/50
* Morris Six/Wolseley 6/80
* Austin A99 Westminster/Wolseley 6/99
* Austin A110 Westminster/Wolseley 6/110
* Austin 1800/Morris 1800/Wolseley 18/85/Austin 2200/Morris 2200/Wolseley Six
* Austin A55 Cambridge/MG Magnette Mk. III/Morris Oxford V/Riley 4/68/Wolseley 15/60
* Austin A60 Cambridge/MG Magnette Mk. IV/Morris Oxford VI/Riley 4/72/Wolseley 16/60
* Riley Pathfinder/Riley Two-Point-Six/Wolseley 6/90
* Austin Se7en/Morris Mini-Minor
* Morris Mini Traveller/Austin Mini Countryman
* Riley Elf/Wolseley Hornet
* Austin 1100/Austin 1300/Morris 1100/Morris 1300/MG 1100/Riley Kestrel/Riley 1300/Vanden Plas Princess/Wolseley 1100
* Austin-Healey Sprite/MG Midget.

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British Leyland

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British Leyland

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British Leyland

British Leyland was a vehicle manufacturing company formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC). It was partly nationalised in 1975 with the government creating a new holding company called British Leyland Ltd which became BL Ltd (later BL plc) in 1978. It incorporated much of the British owned motor vehicle industry, and held 40% of the UK car market, with roots going back to 1895.

Despite containing profitable marques such as Jaguar, Rover and Land Rover, as well as the best-selling Mini, British Leyland had a troubled history. In 1986 it was renamed as the Rover Group, later to become MG Rover Group, which went into administration in 2005, bringing an end to mass car production by British owned manufacturers—with MG becoming part of China's Nanjing Automobile.

History

BLMC was created in 1968 by the merger of British Motor Holdings (BMH) and Leyland Motor Corporation (LMC), encouraged by Tony Benn as chairman of the Industrial Reorganisation Committee created by the Wilson Government (1964–1970). At the time, LMC was a successful manufacturer, while BMH was perilously close to collapse. The Government was hopeful LMC's expertise would revive the ailing BMH. The merger combined most of the remaining independent British car manufacturing companies and included car, bus and truck manufacturers and more diverse enterprises including construction equipment, refrigerators, metal casting companies, road surface manufacturers; in all, nearly 100 different companies. The new corporation was arranged into seven divisions under its new chairman, Sir Donald Stokes (formerly the chairman of LMC).

While BMH was the UK's largest car manufacturer (producing over twice as many cars as LMC), it offered a range of dated vehicles, including the Morris Minor which was introduced in 1948 and the Austin Cambridge and Morris Oxford, which dated back to 1959. After the merger, Lord Stokes was horrified to find that BMH had no plans to replace these elderly designs. Also, BMH's design efforts immediately prior to the merger had focused on unfortunate niche market models such as the Austin Maxi (which was underdeveloped and with an appearance hampered by using the doors from the larger Austin 1800) and the Austin 3 litre, which was a car with no discernible place in the market.

BMH had produced several successful cars, such as the Mini and the Austin/Morris 1100/1300 range (which at the time was the UK's biggest selling car). While these cars had been advanced at the time of their introduction, the Mini was not highly profitable and the 1100/1300 was facing more modern competition.

The lack of attention to development of new mass market models meant that BMH had nothing in the way of new models in the pipeline to effectively compete with popular rivals such as Ford's Escort and Cortina.

Immediately, Lord Stokes instigated plans to design and introduce new models quickly. The first result of this crash program was the Morris Marina in early 1971. It used parts from various BL models with new bodywork to produce BL's mass market competitor. It was one of the strongest selling cars in Britain during the 1970s, although by the end of production in 1980 it was widely regarded as a dismal product which had damaged the company's reputation. The Austin Allegro (replacement for the 1100/1300 ranges), launched in 1973, earned a similarly unwanted reputation over its 10-year production life.

The company became an infamous monument to the industrial turmoil that plagued Britain in the 1970s. At its peak, BLMC owned nearly 40 different manufacturing plants across the country. Even before the merger BMH had included theoretically competing marques which were in fact selling substantially similar "badge engineered" cars. To this was added the competition from yet more, previously LMC marques. Rover competed with Jaguar at the expensive end of the market, and Triumph with its family cars and sports cars against Austin, Morris and MG. The result was a product range which was incoherent and full of duplication. In addition, in consequent attempts to establish British Leyland as a brand in consumers' minds in and outside the UK, print ads and spots were produced, causing confusion rather than attraction for buyers. This, combined with serious industrial relations problems (with trade unions), the 1973 oil crisis, the three-day week, high inflation, and ineffectual management meant that BL became an unmanageable and financially crippled behemoth which went bankrupt in 1975.

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1970s Restructuring

Sir Don Ryder was asked to undertake an enquiry into the position of the company, and his report, The Ryder Report, was presented to the government in April 1975. Following the report's recommendations, the organisation was drastically restructured and the Labour Government (1974–1979) took control by creating a new holding company British Leyland Limited (BL) of which the government was the major shareholder. The company was now organised into the following four divisions:

* Leyland Cars (later BL Cars) – the largest car manufacturer in the UK, employing some 128,000 people at 36 locations, and with a production capacity of one million vehicles per year.
* Leyland Truck and Bus – the largest commercial and passenger vehicle manufacturer in the UK, employing 31,000 people at 12 locations, producing 38,000 trucks, 8,000 buses (including a joint venture with the National Bus Company) and 19,000 tractors per year. The tractors were based on the Nuffield designs, but built in a plant in Bathgate, Scotland.
* Leyland Special Products – the miscellaneous collection of other acquired businesses, itself structured into five sub-divisions:

* Construction Equipment – Aveling-Barford, Aveling-Marshall, Barfords of Belton and Goodwin-Barsby
* Refrigeration – Prestcold
* Materials Handling – Coventry Climax (incorporating Climax Trucks, Climax Conveyancer and Climax Shawloader)
* Military Vehicles – Alvis and Self-Changing Gears
* Print – Nuffield Press (which printed the company's publications) and Lyne & Son

* Leyland International – responsible for the export of cars, trucks and buses, and responsible for manufacturing plants in Africa, India and Australia, employing 18,000 people

There was positive news for BL at the end of 1976 when its new Rover SD1 executive car was voted European Car of the Year, having gained plaudits for its innovative design. The SD1 was actually the first step that British Leyland took towards rationalising its passenger car ranges, as it was a single car replacing two cars that competed in the same sector—the Rover P6 and Triumph 2000. More positive news for the company came at the end of 1976 with the approval by Industry Minister Eric Varley of a £140 million investment of public money in refitting the Longbridge plant for production of the company's "ADO88" (Mini replacement) model, due for launch in 1979. However, the UK success of the Ford Fiesta, launched in 1976, redefined the small car class and ADO88 would soon be cancelled. Massive investment in the Longbridge plant would nevertheless take place in preparation for the introduction of the slightly larger "LC8" subcompact hatchback, which would be launched as the Austin Mini Metro.

In 1977 Sir Michael Edwardes was appointed Chief Executive and Leyland Cars was split up into Austin Morris (the volume car business) and Jaguar Rover Triumph (JRT) (the specialist or upmarket division). Austin Morris included MG. Land Rover and Range Rover were later separated from JRT to form the Land Rover Group. JRT later split up into Rover-Triumph and Jaguar Car Holdings (which included Daimler)

BLCV

In 1978 the company formed a new group for its commercial vehicle interests, BL Commercial Vehicles (BLCV) under managing director David Abell. The following companies moved under this new umbrella:

* Leyland Vehicles Limited (trucks, tractors and buses)
* Alvis Limited (military vehicles)
* Coventry Climax Limited (fork lift trucks and specialist engines)
* Self-Changing Gears Limited (heavy-duty transmissions)

BLCV and the Land Rover Group later merged to become Land Rover Leyland.

BL Ltd

In 1979 British Leyland Ltd was renamed to simply BL Ltd (later BL plc) and its subsidiary which acted as a holding company for all the other companies within the group The British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd to BLMC Ltd.

BL's fortunes took another much-awaited rise in October 1980 with the launch of the Austin Metro, a modern three-door hatchback which gave buyers a more modern and practical alternative to the iconic but ageing Mini. This went on to be one of the most popular cars in Britain of the 1980s.

In 1982 most of the car division became the Austin Rover Group marking the end of the Morris and Triumph marques although Jaguar and Daimler remained in a separate company called Jaguar Car Holdings. The Austin Rover Group started a partnership with Honda.

A rationalisation of the model ranges also took place around this time. In 1980, British Leyland was still producing four cars in the large family car sector—the Leyland Princess, Austin Maxi, Morris Marina and Triumph Dolomite. But the Dolomite was discontinued in August that year -and replaced by the Honda Civic based Acclaim- in a move that saw the Canley plant closed, with the Austin Maxi also being axed a year later. The Marina became the Ital in August 1980 following a major facelift, and a year later the Leyland Princess received a similar upgrade to become the Austin Ambassador, meaning that the 1982 range had just two competitors in this sector. In April 1984, these cars were discontinued to make way for a single all-new model, the Austin Montego.

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Jaguar sale

In 1984 Jaguar Cars became independent once more, through a public sale of its shares. Ford subsequently acquired Jaguar. In 1986 BL changed its name to Rover Group and in 1987 the Trucks Division – Leyland Vehicles merged with the Dutch DAF company to form DAF NV, trading as Leyland DAF in the UK and as DAF in the Netherlands. In 1987 the bus business was spun off into a new company called Leyland Bus. This was the result of a management buyout who decided to sell the company to the Bus & Truck division of Volvo in 1988.

Rover Group sale

In 1988 the remaining Rover Group business was sold by the British Government to British Aerospace (BAe). They subsequently sold the business to BMW, which, after initially seeking to retain the whole business, decided to only retain the Cowley operations for MINI production and close the Longbridge factory. Longbridge, along with the Rover and MG marques, was taken on by MG Rover which went into administration in April 2005. All MG (formerly MG/Rover) Products are now Made In China for the Chinese market by Nanjing. Nanjing have demolished the Longbridge site all but for a very small section, which is used to assemble the Chinese MG TF from complete knock down (CKD) for the European market (i.e. the whole car is Chinese-made, but it is partially disassembled, before being reassembled at Longbridge to avoid certain European Union taxes); this small operation employs 50 people. As only a negligible number of parts are made in Europe (oil sumps), this operation does not support many if any jobs outside the 'assembly operation' elsewhere in the UK or Europe, unlike in 1993 when 29,000 UK jobs and many other European jobs were supported by Rover.

Many of the brands were divested over time and continue to exist on the books of several companies to this day.

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MG Rover Group

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MG Rover Group

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MG ZS 180 ~ MG Rover Group

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MG Rover Group

MG Rover was the last domestically owned mass-production car manufacturer in the British motor industry. The company was formed when BMW sold the car-making and engine manufacturing assets of the original Rover Group to the Phoenix Consortium in 2000.

MG Rover went into administration in 2005 and its key assets were purchased by Nanjing Automobile Group, with Nanjing restarting MG sports car and sports saloon production in 2007. The Rover brand, which had been retained by BMW and licensed to MG Rover, was sold to Ford, which had bought Land Rover from BMW in 2000. The rights to the dormant Rover brand were sold by Ford, along with Jaguar Land Rover, to Tata Motors in 2008.

History of MG Rover

MG Rover was formed from the parts of the former Rover Group volume car production business which BMW sold off in 2000 due to constant losses and a declining market share. BMW had acquired the Rover Group from British Aerospace in 1994 and had since sold the Land Rover business to Ford, and split-off the MINI business as a new BMW subsidiary based in Cowley. MG Rover took control of the remainder of the former Rover Group volume car business, which was consolidated at the Longbridge plant.

Phoenix Consortium ownership

When BMW sold off its interests, MG Rover was bought for a nominal £10 in May 2000 by a specially-assembled group of businessmen known as the Phoenix Consortium. The consortium was headed by ex-Rover Chief Executive John Towers.

When Phoenix Consortium took over, their first loss for the last eight months of 2000 were reported to be around £400m. By 2004, the company had reduced the losses to around £80m but never made e a profit.

MG Rover's best year for car sales was their first full year of business, in 2001 — when they sold over 170,000 cars. In the year of 2004, their sales had declined to around 120,000.

The company eventually ceased trading on 8 April 2005, with debts of over £1.4 billion, after a proposed alliance with SAIC collapsed.

Aborted deal with SAIC of China

In June, 2004, it was learned that Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation had signed a joint venture partnership to develop new models and technologies with MG Rover. This led to much speculation among the British media suggesting the Chinese company was poised to launch a takeover. Later that year, in November, news broke of an agreement between the two companies to create a joint venture company to produce up to a million cars a year, with the production shared between MG Rover's Longbridge site and locations in China. SAIC were to have a 70% stake in this company in return for a £1 billion investment, with MG Rover owning the remaining 30%. However, this agreement had to be ratified by the Chinese government, specifically its National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

The Commission held the opinion that if BMW could not make a success of Rover, then it would be hard for SAIC to do so.

On 8 December 2004, Tata of India, which had cooperated over the export of the Tata Indica as the CityRover, threatened to cease its agreement with MG Rover if the SAIC tie-up went ahead, according to the Indian press. Tata claimed the report was inaccurate two days later.

SAIC did purchase the technical rights to manufacture Rover's 25 and 75 models, and for the Powertrain Ltd business, for £67M. It did not acquire the Rover name, which was still owned by BMW at the time (See 'Brands' below).

In January 2005, it was revealed that British Prime Minister Tony Blair had intervened to support the alliance between MG Rover and SAIC. MG Rover could not give a date on which the agreement would be finalized.

Figures released by the company showed that the sale of Rover-branded cars fell in 2004 compared to 2003.

In April 2005 it was reported that the partnership deal with SAIC was in trouble because the British Government had decided to withdraw its offer of a £120 million loan to keep the deal going. On 7 April 2005 the company announced that it was suspending production because of component shortages. Later in the day, it was announced by Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, that the company was being placed in receivership. Her statement was based on a conversation with MG Rover chairman, John Towers. It was later denied by MG Rover Group, although the company admitted that it had engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accountancy firm, to advise on its current financial situation. In the event, MG Rover placed itself in administration on 8 April 2005, a different status from receivership under British law.

On the afternoon of 8 April 2005, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Richard Burden, Labour M.P. for Birmingham Northfield visited Tony Woodley at the offices of the Transport and General Workers' Union in Birmingham and stated that there might be some hope for the future of the company, although not the original deal agreed with SAIC. In the media, any news about MG Rover was overshadowed by the Pope's funeral and the problems of the register office marriage of the Prince of Wales and his bride.

On 10 April 2005, MG Rover announced that they had received a £6.5M loan from the British Government. This would cover workers' wages for one week while buy-out proposals were made to SAIC. The same week, SAIC denied it had ever made an offer to buy MG Rover and threatened to sue anyone who attempted to make the 25 and 75 models.

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MG Rover Group

Timeline

* Spring 2000: MG Rover was formed as the part of the former Rover Group's mass-market car business which BMW sold to the Phoenix Consortium for a nominal £10.
* 2001: MG Rover buy the factory and the rights to the platform of the Mangusta car from Qvale of Italy for an estimated £10 million.
* 2001: The MG ZR, MG ZS and MG ZT (based on the Rover 25, Rover 45, Rover 75 respectively) are launched as sporting alternatives to the standard Rover models.
* 2002: A revised version of the MG F is launched as the MG TF.
* 2002: MG Rover agrees to collaborate with Tata of India.
* 2002: MG Rover also goes into talks with Brilliance China Auto with plans to build MG Rovers in a plant in China
* 2003: MG Rover launches the new MG XPower SV and SV-R sportscars, prices start at around £65,000. The car is based on the Qvale Mangusta and uses the Ford 4.6 litre V8 engine with two different power outputs.
* 2003: MG Rover launches the new CityRover - a small 5-door hatchback city car, based on the 1998 Tata Indica, which was the product of 2002's collaboration with Tata Motors.
* 2003: MG and Rover launches V8 variants of the Rover 75 and the MG ZT.
* 2003: MG Rover launch a restyled version of the Rover 25, the Rover Streetwise. Referred to as an "urban on-roader", it has SUV-like styling.
* 2003/04: MG Rover sell the Longbridge factory to St. Modwen Properties on a lease-back basis to raise funds.
* 2004: MG Rover launches facelifted versions of the Rover 25/45/75 and MG ZR/ZS/ZT/ZT, with revised front and rear ends. Rover 25/45/Streetwise and MG ZR/ZS also get revised fascias.
* 2004: MG Rover enters in talks with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) about a possible collaboration.
* 2004: MG Rover sell the design rights to the Rover 25 and 75 to SAIC to raise money to keep the business afloat.
* 2005: Negotiations on possible joint venture with SAIC stall, and MG Rover collapses. Price Waterhouse Coopers called in as administrators.
* 2005: Nanjing Automobile Group acquires the entire assets of MG Rover.
* 2005/06: Nanjing Automobile Group announces plans to build cars at Longbridge after signing a deal to lease the site for 33 years.
* 2006: SAIC sets up a new brand called Roewe after losing the right to buy the Rover brand name, and later launches a model based on an extended Rover 75 platform, called the Roewe 750.
* 2006: Ford buys the rights to the Rover marque, meaning that only the MG badge can be used on the new range of Nanjing-built cars.
* 2007: Nanjing Automobile Group restarts MG TF production in China.
* 2007: SAIC and Nanjing Automobile Group announce a tie-up and a possible merger which is completed on 26 December.
* 2008: Nanjing production of the limited edition MG TF LE500 commences at the Longbridge plant.
* 2009: Production of the standard MG TF 135 commences at Longbridge.

Brands

All of the following brands were controlled by MG Rover, and were formerly the property of British Leyland.

* 1895 Wolseley
* 1905 Austin
* 1912 Morris
* 1913 Vanden Plas as a coachbuilder and as a car brand (outside the US & Canada)
* 1923 MG was created by Cecil Kimber based on Morris components
* 1930 American Austin a brand name created by Austin for US market
* 1947 Princess was created by Vanden Plas as a luxury car name
* 1987 Sterling created as a separate brand in the US by the Rover Group

The Rover brand was used under license from BMW, and was sold to Ford following the collapse of MG Rover; it was subsequently bought in 2008 by TATA.

The MG XPower brand was created by MG Rover for their motorsport subsidiary, MG Sport and Racing Ltd. in 2001. It was subsequently used for the MG XPower SV sportscar, a higher powered version of the Qvale Mangusta, in 2002. After the demise of MG Rover, assets of MG Sport and Racing relating to the XPower SV were acquired from PWC, the Administrators, by the newly-formed MG Sports and Racing Europe Ltd. However this company's use of the "MG" trademark resulted in a legal dispute with Nanjing Automobile (Group) Corporation, which had also acquired assets of the defunct MG Rover Group. This case was won by Nanjing in February 2010.

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