| MG UK
MG is a British sports car brand which got its name from "Morris Garages", and was personally owned by William Morris, a dealer of Morris cars in Oxford. MG is best known for two-seat open sports cars, but MG also produced sedans and coupes. Morris Garages began producing its own customized versions using coachwork from Carbodies of Coventry using the designs of Cecil Kimber in about 1924. Kimber had joined the company as its Sales Manager in 1921 and was promoted to General Manager in 1922. In 1928 the company had become large enough to warrant an identity separate from the original Morris Garages and the M.G. Car Company Limited was established. MG started a great racing heritage in the early 1930's. In 1935 the company was sold to Morris Motors which had devastating effects on the company and its racing. Kimber remained as General Manager until 1941. In 1952 MG was absorbed into the British Motor Corporation (BMC). MG wound-up producing badge engineered models for the parent company, yet allowing the smaller MG sports cars alone. Long-time service manager John Thornley also took over as General Manager in 1952, guiding the company through its best years until his retirement in 1969 a year after MG was sold to British Leyland (BL). BL underwent radical restructuring and closed down the Abingdon MG factory, which met with great outcry from the MG devout. BL later produced MGs which were merely badge-engineered Austins. BL became the Rover Group in 1986 and ownership of MG passed to British Aerospace in 1988 and then in 1994 to BMW. BMW sold MG in 2000 and it became part of the MG Rover Group. The practice of selling unique MG sports cars alongside badge-engineered models (by now Rovers) continued. MG Rover Group went bankrupt in 2005 and production ceased on 7 April 2005. In early 2007 Nanjing Automobile Group, a Chinese automaker, became the new owners of the brand and resumed production of MGs at the Longbridge plant, and at a plant in China. In China, the MG brand is marketed as the "Modern Gentleman".
http://www.mg-uk.co.uk/
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