The MG dilemma:
This brand is British or Chinese or Indian ??

The origin and identity of certain brands can become quite confusing in this dynamic automotive industry. MG is one such brand that has caused a debate and interest. With a rich history that dated back to the 1920s. Since then, MG has gone through numerous transformations, mergers, and acquisitions. This blog dives into the MG dilemma, shining light on the company’s British roots, dip into China, and current presence in India. Explore this interesting story that reveals the MG brand’s complex identity.

Starting of MG:

Here the full form of MG is not ‘My God!’, here the MG stands for ‘Morris Garages’. It started around 1920s. The word ‘Garages’ represents the roots of this company because at first it was a retail sales & service centre in Oxford belonging to William Morris.

The amazing fact is MG started from a self-promotion campaign, where manager Cecil Kimber modified the front nose plate of a standard Oxford Morris to ‘MG Super Sports’. And that’s how MG started their journey.

In July 1930 ‘MG Car Company Limited’ was incorporated. This was still under proprietorship of William Morris. In 1935, ‘MG Car Company Limited’ was sold to Morris Motors limited. That time British automobile industry was struggling very hard and to survive that hard time British brands were doing mergers and acquisitions.

Alfa-Romeo launched its 1^st sports car in 1920 and its name was Torpedo. This sports car used to produce 30HP. Alfa-Romeo started dominating from beginning, they won their 1^st race in 1920. Giuseppe Campari came 1^st in Mugello in Tuscany and the other race in Targa Florio, Enzo Ferrari came 2^nd.

Merger & Acquisitions of MG:

Merger & Acquisitions of MG by British brands:

The 1^st merger of MG was by BMC (British Motor Company) in 1952. In that same time two other British brands ‘Riley’ & ‘Wolseley’ also merged in BMC. That time BMC was manufacturing around 39% of total British vehicles. The scenario of MG’s merger & acquisition has not completed yet just keep reading more interesting facts acre coming just keep reading.

After sometime BMC & Leyland motors got merged in and as a consequence MG also got merged in to British-Leyland motors in 1968. This merger lasted around 3 decades. In this MG made some good sports cars but they were facing regular losses and for this reason around the year 2000 MG was on sale again. This time Rover Group acquired MG but this didn’t change anything because the total Rover Group getting collapsed. In 2004, MG was again in trouble but this time no British company came forward to help MG.

Merger & Acquisitions of MG by Chinese brands:

This time MG approached Chinese car company SAIC Motors to rescue them. They proposal was MG will hold 30% of the company and the rest will be under SAIC Motors. The deal was quite appealing to SAIC Motors but when they check the financials of MG, they (SAIC Motors) understood the risks to go further with this joint venture.

So instead of going for joint venture SAIC Motors bought the IP (Intellectual Property) rights of a car by MG named ‘Rover 75’.

But this small purchase hadn’t change anything for MG and as obvious in 2005 MG company collapsed. Although MG was poor on it’s financials but it was a 90 years old British car brand and with its brand name any new car company will have an extra advantage in the competitive car market. For this reason, another Chinese company named ‘Nanjing Motors’ showed interest in MG and bought it in very low price in the year 2007.

At that time Chinese car brands were either learning from foreign brands or just copying them blindly. And for this an interesting thing happened in Chinese Automobile industry, as mentioned earlier, the IP rights of ‘Rover 75’ was bought by SAIC Motors from MG but after Nanjing Motors bought MG then they also started selling the same car. As this car was important for both the companies a legal battel took place. And this is the biggest legal battel took place in the Chinese Automobile Industry.

In this legal battel SAIC claimed they have IP rights of ‘Rover 75’ in counter Nanjing Motors argued that they have total MG not just a specific model’s rights. Eventually the battle between these two brands was stopped but as per rumours SAIC Motors bought Nanjing Motors and automatically got MG.

MG lost its root with Britain:

If you are still reading then you might understand how many times the ownership of MG has changed but if you are surprised then let me tell you that, this is very common in British car brands. Believe it or not brands like – JLR (Jaguar & Land Rover), Bently, Aston Martin & Rolls Royce have multiple ownership transfers. But the story of MG is little different than other British brands.

Now you may ask, “Why I am saying that?”

Well despite of multiple ownership transfers the crore manufacturing, designing & engineering of these brands was still happening in Britan but MG’s connection with Britan was getting weak day by day. In my research, I have found that, MG’s designing and manufacturing hub in Bermingham was shut down in 2016. And at present time their presence in UK is as SAIC design studio. In may MG cars you may find British touch but it is hard to tell how many cars have any connection with Britain.

MG’s journey in India:

If you don’t get what I want say, then let’s understand that by an instance. Let’s talk about MG in India, hope it will help you to understand.

The cars MG is selling in India they all are designed and engineered in China. MG is currently selling 6 models in India.

If we talk about MG – Hector then, First and foremost thing this car is not even designed by MG. This car was 1^st launched by Chinese car manufacturer Baojun named ‘530’ in February 2018, after that the same car was re-launched by Chevrolet as Captiva’s facelift in November 2018. In January 2019 the car was launched by Wuling named as Almaz, and then in April 2019 this car introduced by MG as Hector in India.

Now, you may have a question, ‘How a same car can be launch by various companies?’. Well, this car was designed by the joint venture of SAI, GM & Wuling.

Let’s back to our live examples, recently in May 2023 MG introduced ‘Comet EV’ in India. That is also looks like SAIC-Wuling’s AIR that was introduced in June 2022.

The most famous SUV by MG in India, Gloster is also have a Chinese twin named ‘D90’ by Maxus. In fact, Maxus showcased their D90 in Sanghai Auto-show in 2016.

Not only they are designed in China the engines and technology used in these cars are also from China. The other cars like ZS and Astor is also engineered in China. So, we can say that MG has very little to no connection with Britain. But MG always portray them as a British car brand in fact, they hire British actors for their commercial ads, they also put British flag on their car.

My Opinion on MG’s current situation:

Before I started researching about MG. I also used to believe that MG is a Chinese brand. And after doing all the research I have arrived at the conclusion that, I was right. Although MG originated from Britain but today it has completely changed into a Chinese brand. Because MG’s all designing, engineering and R&D is happening in China.

This is not new thing, in fact Royal Enfield’s story is almost same. At first it was a British brand but today Indian company Eicher Motors owns Royal Enfield and it’s all the designing, engineering and R&D is taking place in India so it became an Indian motorcycle brand.

On the other hand, if you take a look at Volvo it owned by a Chinese company GEELY but its main engineering, designing and R&D is happening in Sweden so Volvo is still a Swedish car brand. Same goes for JLR (Jaguar & Land Rover) though it is owned by Indian company TATA Motors but its main engineering, designing and R&D is happening in Britain so JLR is still a British car brand.

Another rumour was spreading that, MG is going to be an Indian brand but that is also not true. The news was Indian company JSW Group bought 35% of MG-India. Not the total MG.

Thanks for tuning in. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post as much as I have enjoyed writing it. But this is just the beginning. There’s still so much more to explore in the world of cars and bikes, and I’ll be back soon with more exciting content that’s sure to get your engines revving. So don’t forget to subscribe our newsletter and stay tuned for our next instalment. Until then, keep on exploring all the thrilling adventures that the open road has to offer!

— by Shubhradwip Paul