Nanjing Auto to build new cars at Longbridge

Nanjing Automobile Group, which acquired MG Rover for approximately £60m last month, is to work with UK designers to build a new range of cars at Longbridge in Birmingham. The company plans to work with the GB Sports Car Company to start building a range of new MGs in a year’s time. The company hopes to reach an annual capacity of 80,000.

It is hoped that 2,000 jobs will be created at Longbridge and the GB Sports Car company expects to start recruitment shortly. Approximately 6,000 workers were employed at the plant before it went into administration.

Gordon Pointer, commercial director at GB Sports Car Company said: “We will be recruiting technical specialists in areas like plant layout and planning, and car design and development”.

The GB Sports Car Company will collaborate with Nanjing’s advisers, Arup and China Ventures, for the research & development stage at Longbridge.

Car manufacturing is not expected to commence for several months, but it is anticipated that the range will include a series of roadster coupe cars and some sporty saloons.