Feature: Will the reborn MG succeed?

Meanwhile, Nanjing has been in talks about setting up an MG assembly plant in Russia, which lacks the heritage and the expertise found at Longbridge, but can drastically undercut its costs.

Lack of funding during its long decline left Longbridge's design and engineering talent in the frustrating position of having to do facelift after facelift and waste time with non-events like the Streetwise.

And let's not dwell on the previous attempt at selling a car started overseas and finished at Longbridge, the CityRover. However low the price, buyers just didn't want to know. In three years, it sold just over 8,000 throughout Europe.

The MG F/TF, by contrast, was for a while Britain's best-selling sports car, and much admired for the way it drove if not for its build quality, but it's now an old design, launched at the 1995 Geneva Motor Show.

NAC's changes to the TF have so far been minor and entirely cosmetic. But more significant changes will be made, including a hard-top version and the MG7 saloon may follow... but none of this will happen if the TF doesn't find enough buyers.

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