It seems the Chinese central government has had enough of the petty squabling between the two Chinese auto giants and wants them to pool their resources together to make MG cars into a super brand that will be recognised the world over.
Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC) and Nanjing Auto Group will be merged under a central government directive and will jointly produce MG Rover cars, the Economic Observer reported.
The newspaper said the central government directive has been communicated to the Shanghai municipal government.
Following the merger, the production of MG Rover cars will be based in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province, according to the newspaper.
No other details were provided.
Two years ago, Nanjing Auto outbid SAIC for the assets and brand of the now defunct UK-based auto maker. But shortly thereafter, SAIC bought the intellectual property rights to MG’s designs.
So what are we going to see? Roewe have the better advertising, designs (i.e. Roewe W2) but what they lack is a proper range of cars, and modern factories which MG have. We’d like to see the continuation of the Roewe brand in China (because its the best advertised of the two brands in China, for now) and MG can take over the overseas market. I wonder if one day, Ill be able to buy a Roewe TF? This aside, the only two cars that the brands share in China are the Rover 75 and the Rover 25, besides these two cars there doesn’t seem to be anything else (unless either brand have the the Rover RDX60)
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