By the end of the year, SAIC Motor Corp. (China’s biggest automaker) would already have started producing MG 6 sedans at its British plant. These models will go on sale in the first quarter of next year.

Last January, SAIC had revealed plans to sell UK-made MG cars in Europe at the end of this year. After merging with Nanjing Automobile Group in late 2007, SAIC came to own MG Rover’s 10,000-unit-a-year Longbridge plant in Birmingham, central England. It was in 2005 that Nanjing acquired MG Rover. SAIC was able to launch its first self-developed car, the Roewe 750, from technologies gotten from MG Rover, in March of that year. This was followed by the Roewe 550 and MG 6 models, which are a hit with young, elite professionals in China. SAIC also has plans to build and sell a right-hand-drive version of its newly unveiled Roewe 350 hatchback in England, according to Chen Zhixing, executive vice president of SAIC, in an interview in March. Currently, the Roewe 350 is being produced at SAIC’s Pukou plant in Nanjing. The timeframe for the car’s production in England is not available. SAIC has a plant and an r&d team in England.

New MG 6 Sedan