The marque name originated from the initials of Morris Garages, William Morris's private retail sales and service company. The marque was in continuous use, except for the duration of the
Second World War, from its inception in 1924 until 2005, and then from 2007 under Chinese ownership. In the beginning, the marque was used predominantly for two-seater sports cars made at the M.G Car Company factory in
Abingdon, some south of
Oxford.
Under British Leyland (1968–1986) Following partial nationalisation in 1975, BLMC became British Leyland (later just BL). British Leyland's management and engineering staff were predominantly from the former
Leyland organisation, which included MG's historical close rival
Triumph. Triumph was grouped into BL's Specialist Division, alongside
Rover and
Jaguar, while MG was retained with the other former BMC marques in the Austin-Morris Division, which otherwise made mass-production family cars. While new Triumph models such as the
TR7 and the
Dolomite were launched during the 1970s, no new MG models were introduced apart from the limited-production V8 version of the
MGB. While the MG operation was profitable its profits were entirely offset by the huge losses accrued by the rest of the Austin-Morris division. Any funding to the Division within BL was allocated to mass market models which required it urgently, leaving MG with limited resources to develop and maintain its existing range of models, which became increasingly outdated. Amidst a mix of economic, internal and external politics, the Abingdon factory was shut down on 24 October 1980 as part of a drastic programme of cutbacks necessary to turn BL around after the turbulent 1970s. The last car built there was the MGB, and after the closure of the Abingdon plant, the MG marque was temporarily abandoned, and BL decided that there would be no immediate direct successor to the MGB or Midget. Between 1982 and 1991, the MG marque used to badge-engineer sportier versions of
Austin Rover's
Metro,
Maestro, and
Montego ranges. The MG marque was not revived in its own right until 1992, with the
MG RV8 – an updated MGB Roadster with a
Rover V8 engine, which was previewed at the 1992 Birmingham Motor Show, with low-volume production commencing in 1993.
Under Rover Group (1986–2000) became the first all-new MG since the
MGB After BL became the
Rover Group in 1986, ownership of the MG marque passed to
British Aerospace in 1988 and then in 1994 to
BMW. The MG name was revived for a second time in 1992 with the launch of the
MG RV8, followed by the mid-engined
MG F in 1995, which proved to be more successful than the short-lived RV8.
Under MG Rover (2000–2006) BMW sold the business in 2000 and the MG marque passed to the
MG Rover Group based in Longbridge,
Birmingham. The practice of selling unique MG sports cars alongside badge-engineered models (by now Rovers) continued. The Group went into receivership in 2005 and car production was suspended on 7 April 2005. As of 2003, the site of the former Abingdon factory was host to
McDonald's and the
Thames Valley Police with only the former office block still standing. The headquarters of the MG Car Club (established 1930) is situated next door. In 2006, it was reported that an initiative called
Project Kimber, led by David James, had entered talks with Nanjing to buy the MG marque to produce a range of sports cars based on the discontinued
Smart Roadster design by
DaimlerChrysler. No agreement was reached, which resulted in the
AC Cars marque being adopted for the new model, instead. The project appeared dormant by 2009, and was not pursued.
Under MG Motor (2006–present) On 22 July 2005, Chinese manufacturer
Nanjing Automobile Group purchased the rights to the MG marque along with other assets of the MG Rover Group, forming NAC MG UK Limited. In 2007, Nanjing Automobile was acquired by another Chinese manufacturer
SAIC Motor, and NAC MG UK Limited was renamed MG Motor UK Limited in 2009. Since then, the MG marque has been controlled by SAIC as a division within the company's passenger vehicle branch. The first all-new MG model for 16 years, the
MG6, was officially launched in June 2011, and was assembled in China and in UK at the
Longbridge plant. In September 2016, MG Motor ended car production at the Longbridge plant. The company cites "improving production scale efficiencies" as the reason of the plant closure. Since then, MG vehicles had been imported from China into the UK. Since the purchase of the marque, SAIC has designated MG as its main one internationally. The marque has been the largest single-marque car
exporter from China since 2019. In 2023, 88 percent of its sales were outside China. Aside from selling cars designed by parent company SAIC Motor for the MG marque, MG Motor also markets
rebadged vehicles from SAIC such as
Roewe and
Maxus, and from corporate sibling
SAIC-GM-Wuling. The most popular MG Motor product in international markets is the
MG ZS subcompact SUV, with cumulative sales of 999,612 units . It is one of the most exported cars from China. In 2023, MG Motor introduced its first new
roadster, the
Cyberster electric vehicle, which went on sale in 2024. == Models ==