China vs. China over Rover

Shanghai Auto, China's biggest automaker, and smaller Nanjing Auto are engaged in a bitter battle involving British MG technology, says Star Biz China.

In this corner, Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corp., also known as SAIC. They would be the Goliath in this event. SAIC bought Rover technology from the UK company in 2004 for 61 million pounds when the latter went under. They have just released their own-brand Roewe 750 sedan.

And in this corner, Nanjing Automobile Corp., a much smaller player who would be the David. Nanjing bought the MG brand in 2006 for 53 million pounds (they also got MG's plant in England and Powertrain, the engine unit of MG Rover). Nanjing will release their MG 7 sedan in the second half of 2007.

Both cars are based on the MG Rover 75 and will compete directly against each other.

As the market evolves, could there be a possible consolidation scenario in the near future?

SAIC Chairman Hu Maoyuan says they "... hope to join forces with Nanjing Automobile as they (the Roewe and MG) have the same origin. Our door will be always open for cooperation.” And since SAIC and Nanjing Automobile are state-controlled companies, that they should team up to enable state assets to perform more efficiently.

Nanjing's response? Yang Junhu, manager of the MG project, says, “We will follow our own path although we know it’s difficult to build MG into an internationally strong brand”. 

Tags: Nanjing Auto, Nanjing Automobile, Yang Junhu, Shanghai Automotive, Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corp, SAIC, SAIC Motor, Roewe, Roewe 750, Rover, MG, Hu Maoyuan, automotive, auto industry, automotive industry, China, Chinese auto industry, Chinese automotive industry

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