New MG Models for China and Europe

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Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC) is developing new MG models for China and Europe on the platform of its Roewe 550 compact car, say sources at the company.

SAIC will launch a new MG car in China at the end of this year, says a source with SAIC in China who is familiar with the situation. The five-door hatchback MG6 will have a 1.6-liter gasoline engine and offer manual as well as automatic transmission versions. It will share its platform with SAIC's Roewe 550 compact sedan, says the source.

The car will be first sold in China, but will be made available in Europe in the future, he adds. According to Eleanor de la Haye, spokesperson for MG Motor Co. in Britain, in addition to the new five-door MG car, SAIC is developing another model for Europe.
Says de la Haye: "We are currently developing a four-door model and a five door model based on the Roewe 550 platform that will be sold in U.K. and Ireland."

She declines to provide more details on the two models. But she adds these cars may be sold in other European markets as well. MG Motor is now a subsidiary of SAIC. Currently only three MG cars -- the MG7 four-door sedan, the MGTF roadster and the MG3SW hatchback, are built and sold in China.

In Britain, MG Motor Co. only sells the MG TF. In China, SAIC only sold 129 MG TF cars in 2008. It also sold 4,715 units of the MG3 SW small car and 4,357 units of the MG7 sedan last year, according to JATO Dynamics.