Brand history: MG, as the best annotation of British automobile industry, not only completely changed the British automobile industry, but also had a far-reaching impact on American sports cars. It can be said that the brand history of MG is a history of the development of the world automobile industry.
MG is short for Morris garage. MG's father is william morris. He is a kind man who was once made a Lord. The highlight of his life is not his MG sports car, but his spare no effort to support those poor people. He donated 30 million pounds to charity all his life (the money accumulated to 1997, equivalent to 600 million pounds). William morris 1877 was born in Worcester, England. At the age of 3, he came to Oxford with his family. /kloc-When he was 0/5 years old, william morris left school and started his own business with 4 pounds from his family. His first job was to repair bicycles. The founders of many automobile brands in Europe started from bicycles. Morris, like them, is not satisfied with a simple machine with two wheels.
19 10 established Morris garage, which was used to sell cars. Morris himself is the largest distributor in Oxford. Through primitive accumulation, he realized his dream of becoming an automobile industrialist at 1920. The first Morris car was built in Cowley.
Since Morris has devoted his energy and time to developing cars, his previous business can only be done by others. From 65438 to 0922, 33-year-old Cesil Kimber became the sales manager of MG and the general manager the following year. He is very interested in the body structure and is a sports car enthusiast. At that time, the British car market was almost blank in sports cars, so he naturally modified the Morris car, lowered the chassis, matched the body more suitable for sports, and gave the essence of MG sports.
1923, MG introduced the first car designed by Kimber. In order to show that this new car is not just a modification of Morris car, Kimber made MG's logo into an octagon, which is still in use today. 1924 In March, a four-door MG sedan equipped with Oxford car chassis was put on the market, and then the first MG4 sports car equipped with Oxford car chassis came out. The name of this 4-seat sports car is Lao No.1, and 48 cars have been built. 1925, MG provided 2-seat and 4-seat supercars. 1928, Kimber achieved the goal of making MG a best-selling small sports car. MG is very popular and its output is expanding. William morris was also awarded the title of Lord Norfield. This year, he moved MG's factory to Abingdon.
1930- 1935 is the glorious period of MG. They produced many kinds of 4-cylinder and 6-cylinder models, and also developed some purely competitive models. Of course, most of them are sports cars. The cars produced by MG during this period are called MMM (the collective name of Midget, Magna and Magnette).
K-3Magnette was the best racing car of MG in this period, and legendary driver Tazio Nuvolari was also hired as the technical director of this car. MG's MMM cars have produced more than 1 1000 vehicles, and there are still 3000 vehicles in the world.
1935, william morris transferred his MG and wolseley to another industry-Morris Automobile Co., Ltd. Morris Automobile Co., Ltd. thus added a nuffield department, and announced that MG withdrew from the competition. Although there is no MG racing car, the company has set some speed records. 1945, World War II ended, peace came to England, and the MG was able to reproduce the car. But purists say that the later MG is no longer the original MG. MG's logo is also used in sedate cars such as Morris Oxford, 1300. MG's TC, MGA, Dwarf and MGB sports cars continue to be produced.
1952, nuffield and Austin merged into British Automobile Company ("BMC"). In this way, Austin Healy sports car created a competitor within the family for MG. During the period of 1936- 1955, MG intermittently produced many T-cars. 1955, MGA sports car was born, which was the first sports car in the history of MG. At 195 1, EX 18 1 set a historical record of MG. The car has an airplane-like appearance and ran an amazing speed of 395.5 km/h in the test. Two years later, EX 18 1 set a new record, and its speed of 4 10.5km/h has not been surpassed by any MG sports car. 1962, the elegant MGA finally stopped production after producing 654.38+million vehicles, and the long-awaited MGB appeared. MGB has been produced until 1980.
In 1960s, MG's car series were mainly Magnete Mark III/IV III/IV and 1 100/ 1300. 1 100/ 1300 was the most popular car at that time, and the output of 1962 ~ 197 1 reached175,000 vehicles. 1968, British Leland Company and British automobile company BMC merged, and Jaguar also came in. 1975, the huge British automobile company was renamed Leland Group.
In 1980s, MG introduced Metro, Maestro and Montego. The MG Maestro 2.0 EFI model equipped with a two-liter engine is particularly eye-catching and has become a strong competitor of Volkswagen Golf Gti in the 1980s. The sales volume of Metro and Metro Turbo models reached 654.38+0.42 million.
MG- In China: Since Nanjing Automobile successfully bid for all the assets of MGR and Powertrain Company in July 2005, the MG MG project has been carried out in an orderly and tense manner, although it has been relatively low-key.
Since the MG project set sail on March 27th last year, Nanjing MG Automobile Co., Ltd. has mastered and digested the core technology of MG in just one year. The establishment of the National Automobile Research Institute has laid a technical foundation and strength support for the follow-up development of MG. Subsequently, MG MG successively achieved a series of milestone achievements, such as the first batch of accessories exported to Europe, the first N4 engine successfully ignited, the first MG-7 vehicle successfully ignited, and the first MG-TF vehicle successfully ignited, which laid a solid foundation for the upcoming March 27th when the first MG MG vehicle rolled off the assembly line. With the start-up and smooth progress of the project, Nanjing MG Automobile Co., Ltd. won the first prizes of 12, such as "owning an internationally renowned automobile brand for the first time", "being recognized by the international automobile industry for the first time", "introducing European environmental protection standards into China automobile for the first time", "synchronously building domestic and foreign production bases for the first time" and "China enterprise fully acquiring world-class automobile core technology for the first time".
As the first independent international brand in China, MG Automobile Project has opened up a brand-new model in exploring the development of independent automobile brands in China. Through the introduction, absorption and independent innovation of technology, independent brands have not only entered the high-end field of China automobile industry, but also successfully implemented the strategy of "bringing in and going out", which is of great significance to enhancing the strength of independent brands in China automobile industry. At the same time, this has also increased the confidence of the domestic and foreign automobile markets in MG.
The official release of MG brand not only announced the birth of an automobile brand with "inheriting history and innovating development", but also marked the epoch-making changes in China automobile market. MG, a brand with pure British ancestry and bearing the British automobile legend, is expected to become a brand-new force in China automobile market through the carving and experience of Nanjing MG Automobile Co., Ltd. Different from German, Japanese and European cars, people's understanding of British cars, which also have a long history of making cars, actually stays in the legends of ultra-luxury cars such as Rolls-Royce and Bentley. However, with the arrival of MG, China consumers can truly feel the elegance and passion of pure British cars, and at the same time, they will not feel like Rolls-Royce or Bentley.