The MG Rover Is Back in England Again (Sort of)

This was a festive week for MG Rover lovers in England this month as production resumed of the fabled MG at Longbridge. After the plant there shut down in 2005 and Nanjing Automobile stripped the site of equipment that was then shipped to China, a ceremony attended by Britain's solicitor general and other public dignitaries took place at the refurbished factory. But the new MG Rover will likely have a very different feel than what one might expect: most of the cars production will happen in China, where Nanjing will make up to 200,000 of the cars this year. At Longbridge, The Guardian reports that the site will employ only 130 after 6,000 were laid off in 2005 (plant workers once numbered 20,000) and output will likely be less than 2,000 cars this month. As an MG lover for over three decades, I am curious, though, to see what the made-in-China MG driving experience will be like.