Just found this forum and thought I'd explain why I think Nanjing is destined to become China's number one car maker. Nanjing has recently pulled off a briilliant deal to buy all the assets of the UK car company MG Rover. MG Rover had been struggling for sometime. It was a small but respected independant volume car maker in Euriope and a car maker with a GREAT history.

In buying the assets of MG Rover, Nanjing has bought the following:

MG - One of the most loved car brands in both the UK and USA

Equipment to make the MG TF (popular sportscar), ZR (Britain's best selling but ageing hot hatch), ZS (old mid size car) and ZT (modernish saloon, requiring an update)

MG Rover's engine range - Modern engines, Petrol and Diesel which are competitive in the West.

Easy entry into Europe - providing they make good modern cars then people will buy them because the know the brand.

Austin - Old dormant brand (Britain's answer to Ford). Has potential...

Basically Nanjing have the brands and the technolgy, but they need to recruit western car stylists and engineers to ensure that next generation of models is as good as anything anyone else makes in Europe. Europe is a more demanding car market than the US. So get it right in Europe and you get it right in the USA. In addition they need to maintain a lean mean operation in the UK otherwise the brands will lack integrity and 'Britishness'. Mass production in China is fine as long as an operation making cars in the UK is maintained. Otherwise no one will take it seriously.

Nanjing have done one hell of a deal but they need to recruit the right oeople and invest a decent sum of money to make this work! One thing is for sure Nanjing MG will be China's number 1 in Europe simply because the brand is a great one. But it could take Geeley and Cherry years to be taken seriously!!!

if you think nanjing will be number1....then why is geely and chery always in the news.....nanjing is rarely in the news..and geely was at the Detroit auto show etc...


where is nanjing hiding? in terms of newscasts

Thats a great post mgrovernut :)

It will be interesting to see how Nanjing use the brands, at the moment they are creating companies using the Austin brand name, which has a longer history than MG and it would be great to see the Rover brand back which has an even longer history still. Obviously MG will need to be used for sports cars and sales to the USA.

Nanjing appears to take some pride in its history as one of China's oldest car makers so will I hope respect the British brands it has bought. Nanjings history goes back to 1947. Although thats young compared to MG 1924, Austin 1905 and Rover 1877.

if you think nanjing will be number1....then why is geely and chery always in the news.....nanjing is rarely in the news..and geely was at the Detroit auto show etc...


where is nanjing hiding? in terms of newscasts


geely and chery are more of startup companies where as nanjing is more of the business acquisition type i think

I see that some of my British friends from MG-Rover.org found this forum as well. I moderate Chinese Cars USA over at Yahoo and it is mostly about MGR/Nanjing and Geely so far. Between all these forums hopefully we can keep track of the ever-evolving MGR saga.
Chad

it would be greatly appreciated if you could notify some of your chinacar enthusiast peers about this site :)

Someone already posted there about this forum, that's how I found it! But don't get too excited waiting for a stampede of new members, we are a small group so far. ;)
Chad

Geeley are making all the headlines at the moment, but give MG/Rover/Austin 3-4 years and I confidently predict that they will outsell Geeley in Europe by about a huge margin. At the end of the day European won't buy cars very enthusiatically from a car company they have never heard of. Look how long it's taken Honda to establish itself (and that was with Rover's help!).

this theory could occur...but look at what happen to KIA when it came to North America from Korea...its done very well

out of nowhere

True but Hyundai/ Kia has been in the UK for several years and has only just taken off. Hyundai is still struggling though....

If Nanjing get the quality right then there is no reason why MGR can't reclaim a large share of the UK market, but quality and 'British' appeal is the key...

but UK is a very small piece of the international market...when i say international market...US/Canada market will determine whether they are really successfull...

The US has a FANATICAL MG FOLLOWING!!!!!!! I disagree that the US is the most important market though. The truth is if you can cut it in the UK market you can do it anywhere. The UK is the most demanding market in the world. Over here the BMW 3 series outsells the Mondeo. If you make it in the UK you will make it anywhere.

but the uk has 60 million population

us/canada have 330 million population...and dont forget there isnt even fiats and peugeots over here...so perhaps it will takeoff in UK but not US

Europe has 800 million population,
China has 1300 million population,
India has 1000 million population.

US and canada seem quite small at only 330 million put together. ;)

There do seem to be plans to sell MGs in the USA before too long though.

but there are much less cars in India and China

I don't think anybody knows how many cars there are in India!

I think its still true to say that most of them are Hindustan Ambassadors - the Indian version of the Morris Oxford. Just a few years ago they where all Hindustan Ambassadors.

Nanjing now own the Morris brand so have an excellent track record when it comes to selling cars in India! :)

http://www.hmambassador.com/history.asp

Windy is right. I think my point about cracking the UK market is correct. It may not be the biggest market in the world, but the point is that it's the most DEMANDING! If Nanjing can prove themselves in the UK then anywhere else should be easy. get it right in the UK and you get it right in Europe. Get it right in Europe and you get it right in the USA. There are many examples of US car companies coming to the UK with US products and failing, but there are many sucess stories of sucessfull EU cars going the other way (Name a major EU car maker not in the US)

don't forget there is still no conclusion - two separate projects, one winner one loser or will the two be combined?

SAIC have a head start as they already started work about a year before Nanjing. Nanjing have the machinery, but I expect a lot of it is old and will take some fettling to get it running again - you don't ship second hand production lines all the way round the world and not expect some difficulties!

Yes but SAIC have a major disadvantage. When Nanjing come to Europe/ US they will come with brands that are household names. No one will but a Rover 75 with a SAIC badge on it. They will head straight to their nearest MG dealer (even if it cost's more) and buy an MG for 80 years of history...

SAIC are now the controlling shareholder of Ssangyong, they could use that brand.

(just kidding - I've been away a long time but not gone completely mental).

I don't think anyone in the english speaking world would buy a Ssangyong just because of the name - they don't know how to say it for a start!

There were some nice adverts for the Rexton here but they don't sell well.

But if people knew what the name means and the legend behind it they might take a different view!

In the 4x4 market in the UK the main players used to be Land Rover, Jeep, Toyota and Mitsubishi. Now it's Land Rover, BMW, Porsche and Volvo. if Toyota have lost market share, then think how hard it is for Ssangyong. The funny thing is the Rexton is a really good car, but Land Rover, BMW, Porsche and Volvo are all household brands making world class products which don't depreciate heavily....

Imagine how sales might improve if the Ssangyong name was dropped in favour of the Rover brand.....