While names like Triumph, AC and TVR may all be gone from the new car market, MG is still alive and well, albeit owned by China's SAIC. MG is still headquartered in the UK but it no longer builds those classic roadsters that once made it so popular. Or so we thought. A new report coming from Autocar claims that a new MG roadster is very much in the cards and it could even be built at automaker's famous Longbridge factory. MG is apparently aware that a new roadster would reinvigorate the brand much better than another hatchback.
However, according to its UK head of marketing and sales, Guy Jones, "a range of volume products (is needed) before a sports car can happen...but only when the time is right." Interestingly, MG's owners in China are the ones who are now pushing the new sports car despite having been lukewarm on the idea at first. Jones added that such a car "would have guaranteed headlines, but it would have served to confirm MG's reputation as a maker of small, niche, affordable sports cars and that's not where the brand is heading. We have global ambitions built around mainstream products."
For the time being, MG is throwing its weight behind its upcoming Nissan Juke rival that'll be based off the Icon Concept, a so-called modern interpretation of what the original MGB represented in terms of fun factor when it first launched. Fortunately, the suits in China see the Longbridge site as "the center of our global expansion plans." We say the thought of a new MG that would rival the Mazda MX-5 and be built in the UK sounds downright perfect.