Nanjing Automobile Corp, Italian carmaker Fiat's partner in China, said yesterday it will build cars under the acquired British brand MG beginning March 27.

 

The first model to be built in Nanjing, the carmaker's home base, will be the MG 75 sedan scheduled to go on sale in the second half of this year, said Yu Jianwei, company president.

 

The MG sedan will compete with a Roewe 750 sedan from SAIC Motor Co Ltd, the biggest Chinese carmaker listed in Shanghai, as both models come from the same platform of failed British carmaker MG Rover.

 

SAIC Motor, a partner with Volkswagen and General Motors, yesterday unveiled the Roewe 750 that comes equipped with a 2.5-liter, V6-engine. It will retail for between 231,800 and 276,800 yuan.

 

Roewe 750 sedans will be offered to Chinese customers in March through 61 dealerships. No sales goal was announced.

 

The contest between the MG 75 and Roewe 750 in the world's No 2 vehicle market results from the breakup of legendary British automaker MG Rover.

 

In 2004, SAIC Motor spent 67 million pounds to buy technology for Rover 75 and 25 sedans, as well as K-series engines, from the British carmaker.

 

Nanjing Automobile followed in 2005, when it bought the MG brand, its plant in Longbridge, England and Powertrain, the engine-making arm of MG Rover, for 53 million pounds.

 

Yale Zhang, a Shanghai-based analyst with US consultancy CSM Worldwide, noted the battle between the two former British cars could see the Roewe 750 prevail.

 

"The Roewe 750's prospects will be good as SAIC Motor has impressive designing, manufacturing and marketing capabilities," he said.

 

Executives from Nanjing Automobile said the company will also assemble a MG TF sports car at the Longbridge factory starting in May. The factory was closed in 2005 when MG Rover collapsed.

 

Nanjing Automobile said in a press release that it expects combined MG production in Nanjing and Longbridge to reach 200,000 units annually over the next five years.

 

Wang Haoliang, Nanjing Automobile's chairman, said it plans to roll out one or two MG models every year in that period.

 

"We will put main efforts in Nanjing" for MG production, Wang said.

 

The company plans to build a production capacity of 200,000 MG vehicles, 250,000 engines and 100,000 gearboxes in Nanjing with a total investment of 3.5 billion yuan.

 

Nanjing Automobile runs a joint venture in Nanjing with Fiat Auto, making the Italian carmaker's small-sized cars.

 

Sales of China-made vehicles grew by a quarter to 7.22 million units last year.

 

(China Daily January 31, 2007)