MG TF135 - announcements

Quote added by Windy wrote:
New MG being produced at Longbridge
Apr 28 2009 By Jon Griffin



A NEW two-seater MG is being produced at Longbridge – with the MGTF 135 taking pride of place in the rebirth of the Birmingham car factory.

Four years on from the closure of the historic car plant with the loss of 6,500 jobs, the wraps have finally been taken off a new sports model of the world-famous MG marque.

The car, produced by Chinese owners SAIC following their takeover of Nanjing over a year ago, will sell for under £14,000, the Birmingham Mail can reveal.

The public was treated to a first glimpse of the new two-seater at the Royal Windsor MG Heritage Festival over the weekend and a showroom launch is planned for the summer.

MG UK corporate communications head Eleanor De La Haye said today: “The 135 is the standard two-seater version which will open up a whole new range of market to us.

“This will be the first new standard vehicle produced at Longbridge for us. We are now producing standard cars for general sale, rather than limited edition – it’s a key step.

“We are going into ramp-up at present and the car will be in showrooms by June or July.”

The launch of the MGTF 135 at the height of the recession takes the Chinese revolution at Longbridge into a brand new phase, although weekly output figures have not been disclosed.

MG Rover pay delay branded “ludicrous”

MG Rover Trust Fund member Carl Chinn today branded a four-year delay in payouts to 6,500 ex-Longbridge workers “ludicrous” – as the Government inquiry grinds on.

Professor Chinn, one of four trustees, voiced his anger after revelations that the state investigation set up in summer 2005 has now racked up a bill of more than £14.8 million, with no end in sight. The delay in the inquiry has left up to £16 million pledged to former MG Rover workers marooned in a bank account, scuppering potential payouts of five figure sums for ex-employees.

Fees paid to the Government inspectors by the end of February totalled £12.2 million, with expenses and VAT taking the total bill to the state to £14.8 million, official figures reveal.

Professor Chinn said today: “This is just ludicrous. If it were not so upsetting, it would be regarded as a farce.

“The inquiry has taken nearly four years and cost nearly £15 million. What are they doing, where is it going, when will it end? “Many of these workers are still struggling. They are in temporary, low paid and insecure work and they need the money now.

“We would like to distribute this money equally now to all these people who lost their jobs. It makes me very angry.”

He said all meetings of trustees had been abandoned for now.

“There is no point having meetings - there is nothing to discuss.”

The 6,500 ex-workers waiting for potential payouts of £5,000 plus from the Phoenix Trust fund are being denied payment on advice from lawyers representing the Phoenix Four.

Money already realised by the sale of PVH assets includes £4.5 million for former conference centre Studley Castle, £12 million for dealerships and a potential £21 million payout from PVH for an inter-group loan to prop up MG Rover.


But the £16 million already generated by the sale of Studley Castle and the dealerships currently lies untouched in a PVH bank account.

A spokesman for Phoenix Venture Holdings said: “PVH is still a solvent company, is still a trading company and still has liabilities.

“It would be breaking the law if it started giving money away when it still has creditors.”

It is understood that the inspectors have yet to enter the final stage of the inquiry. The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform said a deadline for completion of the report was not “practical or realistic.”

Peter Luff, Conservative chairman of the Business Select Committee, said: “Every penny spent on this long drawn-out inquiry is money that would much better have been spent on developing green technology for Britain’s motor manufacturers.”

But a political source said the inquiry could be delayed until after the next General Election.

“It is not beyond the realms of possibility that this has been kicked into the long grass. The Government’s role in the collapse of MG Rover could be potentially embarrassing.”

Around 6,500 workers lost their jobs in April 2005 when Longbridge crashed into insolvency with debts of £1.4 billion.

docjunior2008 wrote:Has there been any announcement re: MG TF 135/85th Anniversary Edition, yet?
Doc

richardk wrote:

docjunior2008 wrote:Has there been any announcement re: MG TF 135/85th Anniversary Edition, yet?
Doc

Hi Doc

No announcement yet - it is expected the press release will be timed with this event..... http://www.mgmotor.co.uk/news-events/news/mg-sponsors-the-royal-windsor-heritage-festival/ I think the car will see its first daylight here.

Richard

docjunior2008 wrote:What do you think of the whole MG6 Situation? Do you think that'll be built at Longbridge in the future?
Doc

richardk wrote:That is a beautiful colour for a TF!

Shame on MG Motors not having any info on their website yet!

Windy wrote:I see the story has made it into the "Windsor Express" even if nowhere else!

Great picture, is this the image of the modern MG?


Prince Phillip was treated to the sight of classic MG cars at a rally in Windsor Castle

New MG being produced at Longbridge

Apr 28 2009 By Jon Griffin



A NEW two-seater MG is being produced at Longbridge – with the MGTF 135 taking pride of place in the rebirth of the Birmingham car factory.

Four years on from the closure of the historic car plant with the loss of 6,500 jobs, the wraps have finally been taken off a new sports model of the world-famous MG marque.

The car, produced by Chinese owners SAIC following their takeover of Nanjing over a year ago, will sell for under £14,000, the Birmingham Mail can reveal.

The public was treated to a first glimpse of the new two-seater at the Royal Windsor MG Heritage Festival over the weekend and a showroom launch is planned for the summer.

MG UK corporate communications head Eleanor De La Haye said today: “The 135 is the standard two-seater version which will open up a whole new range of market to us.

“This will be the first new standard vehicle produced at Longbridge for us. We are now producing standard cars for general sale, rather than limited edition – it’s a key step.

“We are going into ramp-up at present and the car will be in showrooms by June or July.”

The launch of the MGTF 135 at the height of the recession takes the Chinese revolution at Longbridge into a brand new phase, although weekly output figures have not been disclosed.

MG's quiet revolution in face of recession

Apr 29 2009 Birmingham Post

The launch of a new variant model by any car company is relatively common – but the first glimpse of the Longbridge-built MGTF 135 deserves closer scrutiny.

This is not just any variant, this is the first standard car – as opposed to a limited edition two-seater – that the famous old Birmingham factory has produced since its closure with the loss of 6,500 jobs back in April 2005.

The owners of Longbridge, SAIC/Nanjing, have often lived up to the Chinese reputation for inscrutability in the intervening four years, with a number of false dawns and missed deadlines for model launches.

But since Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation took over Nanjing Automobile 16 months ago, Longbridge would appear to have a more secure future, with deeper pockets and a much more significant resource base.

It’s worth reflecting that the factory’s first entry-level car of the Chinese era will be rolled out to UK showrooms in the teeth of the most vicious sales downturn to hit the automotive sector for several decades.

The landscape across the industry is littered with short-time working and lay-offs, with prominent names in the region such as Jaguar Land Rover, Aston Martin and LDV all hard hit in recent months. Further afield, the big boys of the US, General Motors and Chrysler, also face a grim battle for survival.

Meanwhile, quietly, the Chinese continue their revolution at a factory that was once a byword for industrial turmoil in the days of British Leyland, with Sir Michael Edwardes and Derek “Red Robbo” Robinson trading punches in public as the factory lurched from one crisis to another. Times have moved on rapidly since those days – and today MG UK Ltd is the latest motoring incarnation at a factory which once employed 30,000, and was the best known industrial complex in the UK.

There are still as many questions as answers at Longbridge. Nobody is immune to the headwinds of the worst recession to strike the car industry since closed shops and wildcat strikes were a staple diet for old-style labour correspondents.

It would have been unthinkable 30 years ago to envisage a Chinese car firm running a niche operation at Longbridge employing a few hundred people to make MGs only.

But industrial globalisation sees the Chinese and the Indians firmly in the hot seat at Longbridge and Jaguar Land Rover respectively.

The success, or otherwise, of the MGTF 135 will indicate just how warm the Longbridge hot seat is as this recession continues.

The owners of Longbridge, SAIC/Nanjing, have often lived up to the
Chinese reputation for inscrutability in the intervening four years,
with a number of false dawns and missed deadlines for model launches.

But
since Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation took over Nanjing
Automobile 16 months ago, Longbridge would appear to have a more secure
future, with deeper pockets and a much more significant resource base.

Meanwhile, quietly, the Chinese continue their revolution at a
factory that was once a byword for industrial turmoil in the days of
British Leyland, with Sir Michael Edwardes and Derek “Red Robbo”
Robinson trading punches in public as the factory lurched from one
crisis to another. Times have moved on rapidly since those days...

docjunior2008 wrote:

MG UK is preparing to launch a new, entry-level, version of its UK-built TF roadster.
Expected
this summer, the new model is expected to cost £13,500 on the road,
around £2500 cheaper than the sole current MG TF LE 500 model.
The car will be powered by the updated version of 1.8-litre 16v K-series engine, which is good for 135bhp.
MG
UK will also roll out a new 85th Anniversary version of the TF.
Expected to cost around £15,750 on the road, it will be marked out by
its uprated suspension, and bespoke trim and wheels.
The two cars were shown to MG enthusiasts who attended the Royal Windsor MG Heritage Festival late last month.
Enthusiast
websites also reported that MG dealers and MG UK will attempt to raise
the low profile of the revived marque with new advertising campaigns
alongside the two new models.
Reports also suggest that the new MG6
hatchback and saloon models – which were unveiled at the Shanghai motor
show last month - could go on sale in the UK as early as next summer.
A
decision on whether to assemble the new cars at Longbridge – as opposed
to importing it complete from the Nanjing factory in China – will
reportedly be made in the next few months.
http://autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/240028/