Chinese automaker plans U.S. assembly plant

No new model since 1998
MG was Britain’s last independent auto manufacturer but had not produced a new model since 1998. In the 1960s, the company turned out 40 percent of the cars bought in Britain.

The Ardmore investment comes less than five months after General Motors Corp. closed its Oklahoma City assembly plant, the first of 12 facilities the company plans to shutter by 2008 as it struggles to bring production in line with market demand. The Oklahoma City plant produced sport utility vehicles like the Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT and employed 2,200 hourly and 200 salaried workers.

The deal came together after state officials visited company officials in England to pitch Ardmore as an ideal location for the plant.

The cost of the proposed 300,000-square-foot assembly plant and distribution facility is not yet known, but the total capital investment in reviving MG exceeds $2 billion, including MG’s new operations in China, reopening the facility in England and building new facilities in Oklahoma.

Nanjing acquired MG Rover Group Ltd. last year and plans to reintroduce the cars in China and Europe before the first MG rolls off the assembly line in Ardmore in the third quarter of 2008. The company expects to start construction early next year.

China’s oldest carmaker plans to build an assembly plant in southern Oklahoma to help revive a historic English automotive brand — the MG.

Nanjing Automobile Corp. will locate a manufacturing facility and parts distribution center at the Ardmore Air Park, said Duke T. Hale, the company’s new president and chief executive.

Oklahoma City will be the site of the company’s global headquarters for sales, marketing and distribution outside of Asia. A new research and development facility will be housed at the University of Oklahoma in Norman.

The Oklahoma operations are part of a global business strategy by the newly formed MG Motors, which also plans to build vehicles in Nanjing, China, NAC’s home, as well as resume production at the Longbridge assembly plant near Birmingham, England.

“We’re positioning ourselves as a global car,” Hale said. “Our vision is to try to create a world-class car in a world-class company.”

A formal announcement was planned Wednesday in Oklahoma City.

Hale said Oklahoma was one of several locations the company considered for the plant, and called the state’s incentive package “pretty darn aggressive.” The state is offering Nanjing tax breaks for job creation and a new business development fund.

At full capacity, MG Motors is expected to create about 550 jobs in Oklahoma.

MG was Britain’s last independent auto manufacturer but had not produced a new model since 1998. In the 1960s, the company turned out 40 percent of the cars bought in Britain.

The Ardmore investment comes less than five months after General Motors Corp. closed its Oklahoma City assembly plant, the first of 12 facilities the company plans to shutter by 2008 as it struggles to bring production in line with market demand. The Oklahoma City plant produced sport utility vehicles like the Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT and employed 2,200 hourly and 200 salaried workers.

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