MG Rover, as it is now, have announced new MG models for 2001. First to be unveiled, is the Rover 75 based X10 shown here, which will make it’s public debut at next March’s Geneva show, and go on sale in June.

McLaren F1 designer Peter Stevens was responsible for the design changes which MG Rover are denying is a return to badge engineering, so we won’t be seeing Austin, Morris Riley, Wolseley and Vanden Plas versions.

Engine choices will be the standard 175 bhp KV6 2.5 litre, a 200bhp chipped version of the same engine, and a fore and aft mounted 300 bhp version driving the rear wheels.

This model is the result of a collaboration with race car builders Lola, and will have suspension lowered by 35mm, stiffer springs and damping at the expensive of riding comfort, and a quicker steering rack.

Externally, most of the chrome has been removed, and side skirts, and back and front spoilers should improve stability. Standard wheels will be 18” with 19” optional, and tyres will be ultra low profile.

Interiors will be “stripped out” with few of the retro touches of the Rover 75, but will nevertheless have leather and Alcantara in abundance. 

If you can’t afford the £30,000-£40,000 for one of these, there will also be MG versions of the smaller 25 and 45 models on sale from next June.

Also in June we will see the MG name return to Le Mans for the first time since 1965.

The car will be based on the Lola SR2, which won it’s class in the year 2000 event, and will herald a return to motorsport which could well be followed with an entry in the British Touring Car Championship.

An MG / Lola Supercar inspired by the LeMans entry is also a possibility for 2002.

Selling cars in MG Rover’s chosen sector, is all about image, and a strong competition showing can only help. One of it’s severest tasks will be competing for sales with the new Jaguar X type, also on sale from June 2001, and similarly priced. If they get it right, MG badged cars are expected to account for a third to a half of total sales. 

These developments are the latest in MG’s chequered history, which started back in 1924. In 1935 William Morris sidelined MG boss Cecil Kimber as he felt he was spending too much of the company’s resources on competition, and not enough on developing cars that people would buy.

The purists were horrified when overhead cams gave way to push rods, but the new range of cars performed well and offered more in terms of space and comfort than their predecessors. The range consisted of the TA / TB midget and the SA, VA and WA saloons, which were made right up to the outbreak of war in 1939.

The saloons were handsome cars, the 2.6 litre WA in particular, which offered almost as much as the 3.5 litre Bentley, but for about a quarter the price!

After the war the TB became the TC which evolved into the TD and TF. The MGA took over in 1955 followed by the MGB in 1962 which, when it ceased production in 1980 was the last open topped MG until the RV8 and MGF appeared several years later.

Post war saloon production started with the MGYA and YB, which gave way to the Magnette in 1953. This was superseded by the Farina styled cars in 1959, which were produced up to 1968.

For a short time in the early eighties the MG name lay dormant while the British Leyland bosses decided what to do with it, but soon made a return on Metro and Maestro variants.

Whether the X10 and 25 and 45, the latest cars to carry the octagon badge, will be a success for the new custodians, only time will tell, but we should wish them well as they are keeping alive two important names from the British motor industry.  

New X10 has more aggressive road presence than Rover 75 on which it is based.

Could this be on the Streets in 2002?

The pre-war MG saloons and tourers were imposing cars with good performance and comfort.