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New Longbridge production line

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 31 May 2007 10:10 Reborn MG opens its doors at Longbridge Yesterday marked the latest chapter in one of the genuine rollercoaster stories of our times: the rise and fall – and now yet another recovery – of car production at Longbridge, the spiritual home of some of the most famous nameplates in British car manufacturing. This time it’s the rebirth of MG, now in Chinese hands and back from a near-death experience since MG Rover collapsed in April 2005. Nanjing Automobile Corporation (NAC) is the oldest car maker in China and paid £50 million to snap up the MG brand and manufacturing rights, but can it really stand a chance with its new English project?  The Chinese manufacturer is reviving the MG brand and, in Europe, the first model on sale will be the revised TF roadster on sale around September 2007.

BMW 1 Series dead in US after 2013

With its successor set to bow at the Detroit Auto Show in a couple of months' time, word's come down from BMW that 2013 will indeed be the end of the line for the BMW 1 Series — at least in the US. It will remain available elsewhere in the world as a three-door and five-door hatch. The coupe and convertible, meanwhile, are being replaced by the 2 Series, in convention with BMW's new naming scheme.

BMW M135i concept

The BMW M135i concept previews not only the M Performance variant of the 1-Series, but also the three-door bodystyle. The M135i features a subtly different mask to the existing five-door variants, with a different treatment around the lamps and grille. The feature line that runs off the top of the lamps is now a more aggressive, down-turned feature that indexes with the lower central intake.