MG Plans At Least 300 North American Dealers by 2008
Has it been awhile since you purchased a new MG roadster? For North Americans, the time since such an opportunity existed can be measured in decades (MG pulled out in 1980), not merely the year and a half that have passed since the storied British sports car marque had its factory doors shut along with those of its parent company Rover Group (production of MG cars ended in April of 2005).
The new MG Motors company, formed out of the Rover Group asset takeover by China’s Nanjing Automobile Corp. is planning to enter North America in 2008 with a network of at least 300 dealers in the U.S. While there has yet to be word on any plans for Canada, they more than likely exist and MG Motors will probably set up shop in larger markets such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver first, before expanding.
On Monday at the Reuters Autos Summit in Detroit, Duke Hale, MG Motors boss, said that while no U.S. dealers had yet to be licensed MG was creating initial distribution plans targeting larger American metropolitan areas.
“Based upon our sales ambition and based on where we think our product line will be, we think we need to be looking at a dealer body that’s about 300, up to 350 dealers,” Hale stated.
Hale added that MG would ask new dealers for showroom exclusivity, although he was open to allowing combining brands when it came to parts and service.
Hale cited BMW’s introduction of the MINI brand as an example of how MG would be reintroduced into the North American market.
“They create a great environment in there,” Hale told reporters of Mini Cooper dealerships. “They do everything from shoe shines to cafe latte to hooking up your computer to the Internet.”
While some industry analysts question whether MG will meet its U.S. launch date targets, Hale was more optimistic stating, “We’re planning to launch in June 2008. I think the timetable is fairly reasonable and not a stretch at all.”
Hale added that MG could sell about 100,000 units per year by 2010, at which point it would offer a full model lineup that will include a sport sedan over and above the TF roads and coupe models that are planned for the 2008 introduction.
Before MG reaches North America the new owners plan to produce the TF roadster in the Longbridge plant in the UK, acquired last year, and sell it through about 90 local dealers. The TF coupe will be assembled from kits arriving from Nanjing’s Chinese operations in a new plant in Ardmore, Oklahoma.
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Comments
Has any one heard and update on MG’s timetable in the US. If you do send some info my way or back to this site.
Thank Yiou
No timeline, they relaunched their mg-rover.co.uk website this week. They are also restarting production at a pace. I think their time line is slow, but I guess there is still a hope it will come to Canada and the USA.
Reminds me of a Jaguar X-type lines with a different front end.