Birmingham City Council Leader Mike Whitby has today welcomed the resumption of manufacturing of MG cars at Nanjing Automotive’s plant in Nanjing.
And he has revealed that after discussions this weekend with NAC management and Li Yuanchao, Communist Party Secretary of the Jiangsu Province, that production of cars at Longbridge will re-commence in June.
Mike Whitby said: “This weekend I met with a high-level delegation of Chinese officials and representatives from NAC. They confirmed to me that production will commence in Nanjing on Tuesday (27th) with a projected start date of early June for manufacturing at Longbridge.
“In addition, they confirmed that the success of the Nanjing Automotive Company’s experience in Birmingham will affect whether other industries in the Jiangsu province invest both in the Midlands and the UK as a whole.
“We have been working hard behind the scenes with NAC to help them achieve their aim of bringing car manufacturing back to Longbridge. We will now see that work come to fruition, meaning jobs for people across Birmingham, and amongst the wider region who will supply the new plant.
In a letter to Cllr Whitby, NAC UK Chairman Wang Hong Biao has praised the efforts of the City Council to bring car manufacturing back to Longbridge. He said: “We will never forget the great support and help you have us from the very beginning of our presence here in Longbridge when all the others were sceptical about our determination to bring MG back”.
Wang Hong Biao added:”In order to restore Longbridge to its former glory as the base of a more than 100-year British motor industry, you have supported us, which was risky and unusual.”
In China, NAC will announce on Tuesday that they will develop two manufacturing bases; one in Nanjing and the other in Longbridge, which will be their European HQ and a new centre of excellent for research and development.
Mike Whitby added: “I am confident that following my discussions this weekend we will see cars coming off the production line in Longbridge in June. NAC clearly value the relationship that has developed between NAC and Birmingham City Council and I believe that it will begin to bear fruit.
During the last two years, Birmingham has developed extensive political and economic links with the city of Nanjing. In April 2006, the Leader of Nanjing City visited Birmingham and in September a loan agreement between the Export Import Bank of China (EXIM) and Nanjing Automotive Corporation UK for 35 million USD was agreed for the MG Project. This followed the visit of Mike Whitby to Nanjing where he met with the City’s Mayor and the Chairman of NAC.
In 2007 NAC have undertaken to start production of 13,000 cars based on the Rover 75 (to be known as the MG7). It also plans 7,000 MG TF convertible sports cars. By the end of 2011, Nanjing hopes to assemble 85,000 MG 7 and 25,000 MG TF cars a year.
NAC intends to build the MG 7 in both China and at the former MG Rover factory in Longbridge. After discussions with NAC this weekend it is hoped that preliminary production will begin at Longbridge in late May.