MG Car Company Limited

M.G. Car Company (1930–1972)

William Morris's Morris Garages in Longwall Street, Oxford, was the Oxford agent for his Morris cars. Cecil Kimber joined the dealership as its sales manager in 1921 and was promoted to general manager in 1922. Kimber began promoting sales by producing his own special versions of Morris cars.

Debate remains as to when MG car production started. Although the first cars, rebodied Morris models that used coachwork from Carbodies of Coventry and known as "Kimber Specials", bore both Morris and MG badges. Reference to MG with the octagon badge appears in an Oxford newspaper from November 1923, and the MG Octagon was registered as a trademark by Morris Garages on 1 May 1924. Morris Garages assembled its cars in premises in Alfred Lane, Oxford. Demand soon caused a move to larger premises in Bainton Road in September 1925, sharing space with the Morris radiator works. Continuing expansion meant another move in 1927 to a separate factory in Edmund Road, Cowley, Oxford, near the main Morris factory, and for the first time, it was possible to include a production line.

In 1928, the company had become large enough to warrant an identity separate from the original Morris Garages, and The M.G. Car Company was used from March of that year. In October, for the first time, a stand was taken at the London Motor Show. Space soon ran out again, and a search for a permanent home led to the lease of part an old leather factory in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1929. A limited liability company named M.G. Car Company was incorporated on 21 July 1930.

Kimber stayed with the company until 1941, when he fell out with Morris over procuring wartime work and was summarily dismissed. He died in February 1945, in the King's Cross railway accident.

Under the Nuffield Organization

William Morris owned MG personally, and in a re-arrangement of his various personal holdings, he sold MG in 1935 to Morris Motors (itself the leading member of his Morris Organisation, later called the Nuffield Organization).

Under the British Motor Corporation (BMC)

The M.G. Car Company Limited was absorbed along with Morris into The British Motor Corporation Limited (BMC), created in 1952 as a merger of Morris Motors Limited and The Austin Motor Company Limited. Long-time service manager John Thornley took over as general manager, guiding the company through its best years until his retirement in 1969. Under BMC, several MG models were no more than badge-engineered versions of other marques, with the main exception being the small MG sports cars. BMC merged with Jaguar Cars in September 1966, and that December, the new company was named British Motor Holdings (BMH). BMH merged with the Leyland Motor Corporation in 1968 to form British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC).

Under British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC)

By this point, MG was nothing more than a marque used by BLMC, and from about 1972, the name "M.G. Car Company Limited" ceased to be used.

Under British Leyland (1968–1986)

Following partial nationalisation in 1975, BLMC became British Leyland (later just BL). British Leyland's management and engineering staff were predominantly from the former Leyland organisation, which included MG's historical close rival Triumph. Triumph was grouped into BL's Specialist Division, alongside Rover and Jaguar, while MG was retained with the other former BMC marques in the Austin-Morris Division, which otherwise made mass-production family cars. While new Triumph models such as the TR7 and the Dolomite were launched during the 1970s, no new MG models were introduced apart from the limited-production V8 version of the MGB. While the MG operation was profitable its profits were entirely offset by the huge losses accrued by the rest of the Austin-Morris division. Any funding to the Division within BL was allocated to mass market models which required it urgently, leaving MG with limited resources to develop and maintain its existing range of models, which became increasingly outdated. Amidst a mix of economic, internal and external politics, the Abingdon factory was shut down on 24 October 1980 as part of a drastic programme of cutbacks necessary to turn BL around after the turbulent 1970s. The last car built there was the MGB, and after the closure of the Abingdon plant, the MG marque was temporarily abandoned, and BL decided that there would be no immediate direct successor to the MGB or Midget.

The earliest model, the 1924 MG 14/28 consisted of a new sporting body on a Morris Oxford chassis. This car model continued through several versions following the updates to the Morris. The first car that can be described as a new MG, rather than a modified Morris was the MG 18/80 of 1928, which had a purpose-designed chassis and the first appearance of the traditional vertical MG grille. A smaller car was launched in 1929 with the first of a long line of Midgets starting with the M-Type based on a 1928 Morris Minor chassis. MG established a name for itself in the early days of the sport of international automobile racing. Beginning before and continuing after World War II, MG produced a line of cars known as the T-Series Midgets, which, post-war, were exported worldwide, achieving greater success than expected. These included the MG TC, MG TD, and MG TF, all of which were based on the pre-war MG TB, and updated with each successive model.

MG departed from its earlier line of Y-Type saloons and pre-war designs and released the MGA in 1955. The MGB was released in 1962 to satisfy demand for a more modern and comfortable sports car. In 1965 the fixed head coupé (FHC) followed: the MGB GT. With continual updates, mostly to comply with increasingly stringent United States emissions and safety standards, the MGB was produced until 1980. Between 1967 and 1969 a short-lived model called the MGC was released. The MGC was based on the MGB body, but with a larger (and heavier) six-cylinder engine, and somewhat worse handling. MG also began producing the MG Midget in 1961. The Midget was a re-badged and slightly restyled second-generation Austin-Healey Sprite. To the dismay of many enthusiasts, the 1974 MGB was the last model made with chrome bumpers due to new United States safety regulations; the 1974½ bore thick black rubber bumpers that some claimed ruined the lines of the car. In 1973, the MGB GT V8 was launched with the ex-Buick Rover V8 engine and was built until 1976. As with the MGB, the Midget design was frequently modified until the Abingdon factory closed in October 1980 and the last of the range was made. The badge was also applied to versions of BMC saloons including the BMC ADO16, (as the MG 1100, 1275 and 1300) which was also available as a Riley, but with the MG pitched as slightly more "sporty".

The marque lived on after 1980 under BL, being used on a number of Austin saloons including the Metro, Maestro, and Montego. In New Zealand, the MG badge even appeared on the late 1980s Montego estate, called the MG 2.0 Si Wagon. There was a brief competitive history with a mid-engined, six-cylinder version of the Metro. The MG Metro finished production in 1990 on the launch of a Rover-only model. The MG Maestro and MG Montego remained on sale until 1991, when Rover cut production of these models to concentrate on the more modern 200 Series and 400 Series. High performance Rover Metro, 200 and 400 GTi models had gone on sale in late 1989 and throughout 1990 as the MG version of the Metro was discontinued in 1990 and the versions of the Maestro and Montego were axed in 1991.

The Rover Group revived the two-seater with the MG RV8 in 1992. The all-new MG F went on sale in 1995, becoming the first mass-produced "real" MG sports car since the MGB ceased production in 1980.