Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Automotive |
Predecessor | MG Rover Group |
Founded | 2006 |
Headquarters | , |
Products | Automobile engineering |
£2.3m | |
Number of employees | 16 (2020) |
Parent | SAIC Motor |
Website | SAIC Motor UK |
SAIC Motor Technical Centre (also known as SMTC UK) is the European subsidiary of the Chinese automaker SAIC Motor via SAIC Motor UK Holdings. SAIC Motor also controls MG Motor UK for sales and distribution, but is independent of the technical subsidiary.
SAIC Motor UK formed when SAIC Motor bought out MG Motor from Nanjing Automobile in 2006.
SAIC Motor UK Technical Centre is a subsidiary of the SAIC holding company, and evolved from the Ricardo 2010 consultancy that was working with SAIC including developing the Roewe models and helping production of the Rover KV6 engine in China. In 2007 it formally transferred into SMTC. [1]
In 2019 there were large scale redundancies to the technical teams as SAIC downsized the SMTC in Longbridge. [2]
SAIC Motor UK was the major developer of MG and Roewe cars for SAIC. [3] [4] Its best known developed car is the MG 6.
MG is a British automotive marque founded by Cecil Kimber in the 1920s, and M.G. Car Company Limited was the British sports car manufacturer existing between 1930 and 1972 that made the marque well known. Since 2007, the marque is controlled by Chinese state-owned automaker SAIC Motor.
MG Rover Group was a British carmaker that existed between 2000 and 2005. It was the last domestically owned mass-production car manufacturer in the British motor industry. The company was formed when BMW sold the car-making and engine manufacturing assets of the original Rover Group to Phoenix Venture Holdings in 2000.
The Longbridge plant is an industrial complex in Longbridge, Birmingham, England, currently leased by SAIC as a research and development facility for its MG Motor subsidiary. Vehicle assembly ended in 2016.
SAIC Motor Corp., Ltd. is a Chinese state-owned automobile manufacturer headquartered in Anting, Shanghai. Founded in 1955, it is currently the largest of the "Big Four" state-owned car manufacturers of China ahead of FAW Group, Dongfeng Motor Corporation, and Changan Automobile, with sales of 5.02 million vehicles in 2023.
The Rover 75 is a car which was manufactured from 1998 to 2005 and sold under the British Rover marque. It is a large family car and came in four-door saloon and five-door estate body styles. Initially built only with front-wheel drive, a rear-wheel drive variant with a V8 engine was later sold. There was also an extended-wheelbase model. In 2001, MG Rover launched a badge engineered variant, the MG ZT. A coupé concept was built, but did not receive further development.
Roewe is an automotive brand owned by the Chinese automaker SAIC Motor since 2006. Roewe vehicles were initially based on technology acquired from defunct British carmaker MG Rover. SAIC was unable to purchase the rights to the Rover brand name and created the Roewe marque as a replacement. Roewe vehicles are sold in most export markets outside China under the MG marque.
The MG3 is a small car produced by the Chinese automotive company SAIC under the British MG marque. The first generation, marketed as the MG3 SW, is based on the British made Rover Streetwise, which itself was based on the Rover 25, while the second generation, introduced in 2011 is marketed simply as the MG3.
Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC is the holding company of Jaguar Land Rover, also known as JLR, and is a British multinational automobile manufacturer which produces luxury vehicles and SUV and has its head office in Whitley, Coventry, United Kingdom. The principal activity of Jaguar Land Rover is the design, development, manufacture and sale of vehicles bearing the Jaguar and Land Rover marques.
The Roewe 550 is a compact car that is produced by Roewe in China, and was launched at the 2008 Beijing Motor Show. The 550 was reported to be derived from the MG Rover RDX60 project which was under development when MG Rover failed.
The MG6 is a compact car which has been produced by MG since 2010. It is slotted slightly above the compact sedan MG GT, and the compact hatchback MG 5.
MG Motor is an automotive brand owned by SAIC Motor, a Chinese state-owned carmaker based in Shanghai. It is a continuation of the original MG marque, a British brand founded in Oxford, UK, in 1924. SAIC Motor gained control of the brand in December 2007 by acquiring Nanjing Automobile Corporation (NAC), which had initially taken over the brand from the defunct MG Rover Group in 2005. Currently, MG operates as a division within SAIC's passenger vehicle branch.
The MG 5 is a series of compact cars that has been produced by SAIC Motor under the MG marque since 2012. The first generation MG 5 was launched on 28 March 2012 in China, and shares the same automotive platform as the Roewe 350 saloon car.
The Roewe 350 is a small family car or compact car produced by Roewe in China from 2010 to 2015. It is sold in international markets as the MG 350. Codenamed AP11, it shares the same automotive platform with the MG 5 hatchback, which entered production in 2011 as a 2012 model.
Rover is a British automotive brand that was used for over a century, from 1904 to 2005. It was launched as a bicycle maker called Rover Company in 1878, before starting to manufacture autocars in 1904. The brand used the Viking longship as its logo. The rights to the brand are currently part of Jaguar Land Rover, which continues to produce Land Rovers, but no Rover automobiles are currently in production and the brand is considered dormant.
The Kavachi engine, commonly known as the TCI-Tech, was developed by SAIC Motor, based on a re-engineering of the Rover K-series engine. It is used in Roewe and MG Motor vehicles.
The Roewe E50 is an all-electric car that is manufactured by the Chinese manufacturer Roewe.
Anthony (Tony) Williams-Kenny is a British car designer and is the Director of Design at the Chinese car manufacturer Zotye Auto as of June 2022.
The Roewe RX5 is a compact crossover SUV that is manufactured by SAIC Motor under the Roewe brand. The RX5 is available as a petrol-powered RX5 variant, a plug-in hybrid eRX5 variant and a pure electric ERX5 variant. The facelift model is called the RX5 Plus, and a slightly larger second generation model called the RX5 Max is sold alongside the RX5 Plus. The RX5 Max is available as a petrol-powered RX5 Max variant and a plug-in hybrid RX5 eMax variant. The RX5 Max was facelifted for the 2021 model year.
The Roewe i5 is a subcompact car produced by SAIC Motor since 2017. Available as a sedan and as an electric station wagon, the latter was first introduced via the electric station wagon version, the Roewe Ei5, the compact station wagon debuted on the 2017 Guangzhou Auto Show.