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By Racer-X4 at 2007-09-12 20:38
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MG was founded in 1921 when William Morris approved that Cecil Kimber modified the Morris Oxford by using lighter and more racing adopted body.
Thus the first "MG" based on the work of Morris Garages was born, the MG 14/28.
The Morris Car Company soon aquired MG and production moved forward using many more Morris platforms to produce both sports and saloon cars.
Originally in a small workshop near Oxford, MG finally came to a more established home in Abingdon, just south of Oxford where it remained the home of the brand until 1980.
In 1952, the Nuffield Group, owners of MG; Morris; Wolseley and Riley, merged with rivals the Austin Car Company to form the British Motor Company (BMC). During the BMC era the MG badge was used on BMC saloons such as the Magnette ZA/ZA and later Farina based Magnettes, as well as the highly successful MG 1100/1300. Post WW2, the sports car offering was still the T series, although just after the 1952 merger, the MGA was launched. Many would claim this to be one of the best looking MGs ever.
MG however was allowed to stretch its legs again in the 1960s with its own MGB and MGB GT both of which are as popular with their owners today as they were back then. The B was completely new, even offering a mocoque platform, a first in sports car terms, and an enlarged B Series engine. The MGB was sold alongside by the well acclaimed MG Midget for over 18 years, well into the British Leyland era, despite a pro-Triumph management.
After Abingdon was closed in 1980, the famous octagon continued to grace cars from its new home, the Austin factory in Longbridge, Birmingham. The company had been renamed once again as the Austin-Rover group, an era that is home to the "MGM" cars; re-engineered Austin Metros Maestros and Montegos, all with NASP and Turbo versions. To this day, the 200bhp standard power of an MG Maestro Turbo remains impressive performance and is the fastest 4 cylinder MG ever produced. As well as impressive road cars, Williams F1 developed the Group B rally beast the MG Metro 6R4.
By 1990, Austin-Rover had renamed once more to The Rover Group under the control of British Aerospace, and MG was once again given new life. The MG RV8 was a marketing exercise to test the public reaction to the MG badge. British Heritage provided modernised MGB bodyshells fitted with 3.9L Rover V8 engines, and this gave the MG enthusiasts what they had been crying out for since the close of Abingdon.
1994 saw yet another buy-out, this time by foreign owners BMW who aquired control not only ofMG, but also Rover, Land Rover and Mini as part of the Rover Group.
1995 also saw new developments with the arrival of Britains first all-new roadster since the MGB. Known as the MGF this continued to elevate the MG to great sucess and remained the UKs top selling roadster for nearly 10 years (including its re-engineered counterpart the TF). The only reason it never sold in the numbers that the B did was because its market was restricted by BMW and the US, a crucial market for MG in the past, was not to see the all new MG.
BMW split the group in 2000 retaining ownership of the now "MINI" brand and selling Land Rover to Ford. MG was sold for a token £10 to a group of venture capitalists known as Pheonix Venture Holdings (PVH). PVH also aquired the rights to continue producing cars with the Rover brand and the company became known as MG-Rover Ltd.
Under the (sometimes controversial) guidance of PVH, MG launched 3 new saloon cars, based on the age old re-engineering practice, this time on Rover saloons. Much more work was put in this time and even the best selling MGF was significantly re-engineered. The ZR and TF hit top of their category sales charts, the ZS180 became a trackday favourite and the ZT reached top of the owner surveys for several years running.
2003 saw the launch of the long awaited new batch of MG V8s, an engine choice missing since the end of the RV8. The ZT was re-engineered to become rear wheel drive, while MG also entered into the supercar territory for the first time with the X-Power SV.
2005 saw the Longbridge factory close and MG once more hung in the balance but the brand is now back in foreign ownership, by Chinese company Nanjing Automotive.
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